


Twisted For You

by brokenhighways



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Inspired by a Movie, Iron Man 1, M/M, Movie Retelling, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-20
Updated: 2013-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-05 05:46:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1090324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared could literally spend an entire day telling someone just how much Jensen Ackles (the multi-billionaire head of Ackles Industries, who just happen to be the country’s largest oil manufacturers) sucks, but Jensen's surrounded by unwavering levels of adoration and nepotism regardless, so it'd be pretty pointless. However, when Jared and Jensen's lives collide and he's forced to spend time with the other man, he realises that maybe he had the wrong idea about Jensen all along. [Based on the first Iron Man movie.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dephigravity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dephigravity/gifts).



> For notes visit the LJ masterpost [here](http://brokenhighways.livejournal.com/24124.html)

  
  
Jared Padalecki likes to think that he's a reasonable person. He's graduated from college, he has a job, he has his own apartment, and he pays his bills on time. He donates to animal shelters when he has spare cash. He helps the old lady across the street with her groceries. Sure, he hasn't managed to get a job that pertains to his degree, and his actual job as a parking valet sucks, his apartment sucks, and he barely makes it even. But Jared doesn't complain. He still has it a lot better than some people do.  
  
The most unreasonable choice Jared has ever made is befriending Chad Michael Murray. Now, Chad's a good friend and all, Jared isn't saying that he's not. It's just that wherever Chad goes, trouble follows. Take the evening of the New York City Ackles' Foundation gala. It's a standard Ackles Foundation event. There are a lot of flashy cars, a lot of hideous designer wear, and Jensen Ackles himself shows up in one of his ridiculously expensive custom made Ferrari's. He winks at Jared when he's handed a ticket, and Jared barely manages to conceal his eye roll. Jared could literally spend an entire day telling someone just how much Jensen Ackles sucks, but he's surrounded by unwavering levels of adoration and nepotism regardless, so it'd be pretty pointless. Jensen Ackles, head of Ackles Industries, is a multi-billionaire who is head of the country’s largest oil manufacturers. There are some rumours about some shady underground arms dealing that are probably true. Jared understands that Jensen's father passed his legacy onto him, and that it would be hard for him to just steer the company in a different direction. But still, Jensen doesn't seem to care if the gossip rags are anything to go by.  
  
Two hours after the gala starts, Chad is bored. This means that Jared has to put up with his random tangents and blow by blow account of the latest girl that Chad is sleeping with. After half an hour of that, Jared desperately searches for a subject change. All he really comes up with his:  
  
"Wanna play truth or dare?" Jared will live to regret these words. Chad's face lights up and he nods enthusiastically.  
  
“Alright,” Jared says. “Dare.”  
  
The gleam in Chad’s eye is the first indication that Jared has as thinks that he probably should have gone for the much safer  _truth_.  
  
“I dare you to take Jensen Ackles’ car for a spin. Nothing major, just around the block,” Chad says with a grin.  
  
“No way, man,” Jared shoots back. Jensen Ackles is well known for the ridiculous cars that he drives; the one he came in tonight is rumoured to have cost him five million dollars or so. If Jared wants to see the rest of his adult life, he’ll do well to stay away from it. There's no fucking way that he's going to even touch the hood.  
  
"You're the one who picked the dare, man," Chad says with a shrug. “You can’t back out now.” Although Chad currently sounds indifferent, Jared knows from experience that within half an hour, Chad will be antsy and restless and  _relentless_. So he decides to just take the car for a spin. Hell, how much damage can he inflict in five minutes? Chad grins as Jared uses the sheet to check what bay Jensen’s car is parked in; not that he even needs to. The car is bright red, with shiny silver rims that can probably be seen from the moon. Jensen Ackles is kind of an exhibitionist. After retrieving the keys, he jogs over to the parking lot, making his way over to the level where Ackles’ car is parked. He unlocks it with the press of a smooth, concave button and raises an eyebrow when the door slides open in a fluid, upward motion. Jared’s not sure how a bunch of metal can exude nepotism, wastefulness and tackiness all at once, but this car certainly manages to do so. With a heavy sigh, he gets in, pressing the release button for the door and clicking the seatbelt on quickly. He starts the ignition and is immediately startled by a loud female voice.  
  
“You are not Mr. Ackles, sir,” she says. “Are you permitted to drive this vehicle?”  
  
“Who the hell are you?” Jared exclaims, heart beating at a million fucking beats per minute.  
  
“My name is IMPALA,” the female voice replies. Jared frowns. Whatever.  
  
“I’m a valet,” he says. “I’m moving the car to a better spot.”  
  
“Affirmative,” IMPALA says. “It is 54 degrees, with no rain forecast for the next 12 hours at least. Traffic is moderate and---“  
  
“Uh, thanks, but none of that information is necessary?” Jared’s not going to lie; this whole computer thing is weird.  
  
“As you wish, sir,” IMPALA says. There’s silence after that and Jared can’t help breathing a sigh of relief.  
  
Fucking rich people and their fancy gadgets.  
  


  
  
  
  
Two minutes into his drive, Jared’s starting to see why this car is valued at such a ridiculous price. The engine makes this  _noise_  and the car practically glides across the road, and it’s just perfect. Jared steers the car past the building, not caring that someone could easily spot him and tell Jensen about it. He can always just lie right? He puts his foot on the gas pedal, presses down hard and speeds down the street. The bright lights of New York City blur as he whips past and he finds himself whooping. Jared’s so caught up in the euphoria of the moment that he doesn’t see the yellow taxi cab that’s switching lanes and before he knows what’s happening, he hears the tell-tale sound of crunching metal. Before he can even think of slamming the breaks on he hears IMPALA say “ _Ejector function activated_ ” and he’s sent spiralling into the air, with the firm cushion of the driver’s seat attached to his ass. He lands a few metres away from the crash scene and finds himself staring up at the onlookers who have stopped to stare at the scene.  
  
 _Fuck_.  
  


  
  
  
  
Jared’s boss, Jack Plotnick, is a weedy little guy with a scratchy voice that irritates Jared like something else. Jared’s not sure why Jack would prefer to yell at him for twenty minutes  _before_ firing him. Surely firing him effective immediately would be lot more efficient, but apparently Jack only cares about efficiency when it comes to parking cars.  
  
“Pack up your shit and get out of here,” Jack says, seemingly unaware that due to the lack of staff lockers, Jared doesn’t have any ‘shit’ here. “Oh and Ackles wants to see you at his fancy house tomorrow, 8am sharp.”  
  
Jared’s instant response to that is  _fuck no_ , but for whatever reason Ackles’ isn’t pressing charges. Which Jared is grateful for, because after the turmoil of the last two years, a criminal record is not what he needs. He’s struggling to make ends meet as it is. As recent as two years ago, Jared had been a promising mechanical engineer. Although he went on to graduate with top honours, the stink of a scandal that he’d gone through at college still stuck with him. Kind of like the way skunks never lost their charming aroma. Another student, Tom Welling, had attempted to copy Jared’s work and as a result they’d  _both_  ended up getting their knuckles rapped, Jared had been given a formal warning while Tom had been kicked out completely. To this day, Jared’s convinced that Tom’s somehow gotten to every potential employer he’s ever had. Chad thinks he’s paranoid, and maybe Jared is, but he just wishes that he could catch a break.  
  


  
  
  
  
Jensen Ackles’ house is as ridiculous as the car that Jared destroyed. It’s  _huge,_  and it’s at the peak of a steep hill that overlooks an expanse of blue skies and mossy trees. It’s beautiful really; Jared can’t help but admire it. He presses the doorbell and after a few seconds it swings open automatically. Jared steps into the hallway, eyes scanning the area in anticipation of some sort of housemaid who’s been instructed to greet every single guest.  
  
“Mr. Padalecki.” Jared jumps as the door slams and IMPALA’s voice sounds out.  
  
“I-IMPALA,” he says in a flustered tone. Seriously, hearing a voice and seeing absolutely no one in sight is kind of freaky.  
  
“Mr. Ackles will be with you shortly,” IMPALA says in what appears to be a quaint English accent. “He currently has a guest with him.”  
  
Jared snorts.  _Guest_. He’s sure that E! will have pictures of Ackles’ leaving with his guest up in a few hours. It’s no secret that Ackles beds a different person every night. Not that Jared cares in the slightest. Sure, Ackles is pretty, with model looks; the chiselled jaw, strong cheekbones, light smattering of golden freckles, vibrant green eyes, plump full lips and—anyway, the point is that if the circumstances were different, Jared wouldn’t turn Jensen down. But they’re not different, and Jared still hates everything that Jensen stands for.  
  
After what seems like hours, Jared checks the time on his phone and sees that it’s now 9am. An entire hour after he and Ackles’ were supposed to meet. Jared doesn’t really have anything better to do, but he can think of a million other things he’d rather be doing. However, the fact is that he has five million reasons to be here, so he stays put and doesn’t make a fuss. Eventually, he hears some doors slam and loud voices coming from the main area of the house.  
  
“ _You can’t just fire me!_ ”  
  
 _“I think you’ll find that I can. And I am.”_ That’s Ackles’ voice. Jared scoffs to himself. Ackles and his companion come into view, and Jared’s surprised to see that while Ackles’ is adorned in a bright red robe, his companion is shirtless and barefoot.  
  
“Are you kidding me?” the man says. “What the hell did I do?” Ackles reaches into his robe pocket, pulls out a piece of paper and tosses it at the guy.  
  
“You know that if you’d asked nicely, I would have helped you pay off your debt, but stealing, Josh? That’s unforgivable.” Josh’s face pales, and Jared can tell that he’s definitely guilty of what Ackles suspects him of. And given the pallor of his skin, and the way his fingers are shaking, Jared’s pretty sure that he can guess why this Josh guy needed cash. Jared feels his lips curling up in distaste as he adds another point to his  _reasons to dislike Jensen Ackles_  list.  
  
“What about last night?” Josh says. “If you knew already then why did you…”  
  
“I’m sorry about that,” Jensen says, without really sounding sorry at all. “I admit that I had too much to drink and got carried away.” He looks right at Jared then, and his entire demeanour changes. Jared can’t help feeling like he’s been scrutinised closely. He shifts slightly and sits up straighter. He does have to at least appear to be contrite after all. He  _did_ damage a five million dollar car.  
  
“Look, I’ll be in contact shortly with some sort of severance payment, okay?” Before Josh can respond, a woman scuttles out of nowhere with a neat pile of folded clothes. Josh disappears into another room.  
  
“And who might you be?” Jensen says when he’s ambled over to Jared, who’s sitting in the living area.  
  
“Jared Padalecki,” Jared says. “I’m the valet who totalled your car the other day. Sorry about that.” Jared knows that he doesn’t sound contrite or sorry for his actions at all and judging by the smirk on Ackles’ face – he knows it too.  
  
“You owe me a million dollars, then. I’ll take check or cash. It’s up to you.”  
  
“Well…we can work something out,” Jared says. “Or you can get whoever you pay to run your life to work something out. Oh wait. You just fired him!”  
  
"You're kinda brazen for a guy who just damaged a million dollar car," Ackles' says. Gone is the amused tone and in its place there's a serious one. And while Jared maintains the fact that he hates Jensen Ackles, what he did was reckless, stupid and entirely his fault. He is kind of being a dick.  
  
"Uh, yeah," he says, feeling embarrassed at his own churlish behaviour. "I'm sorry about your car. Truly, I am. Nice touch with the ejector seat by the way. It saved my _sorry_  ass."  
  
Jensen's face lights up at that and Jared supposes that what they say is true; the best way to distract a rich person is to ply them with compliments. Though that could be true of anyone, rich or poor, so perhaps Jared’s distaste of Ackles’ is making him a little biased.  
  
“Yeah, well,” Jensen says proudly. “I always knew it would come in handy someday. I just assumed that I’d be the one to crash it.”  
  
“Well, it was a very comfortable landing,” Jared adds awkwardly. “Now can we skip to the part where you tell me what it is that you want me to do to make up for destroying your car?”  
  
Jensen gives him a startled look, and that then quickly morphs into that familiar smirk that Jared has come to loathe. There’s no denying that it’s hot as hell, and really Jared’s also come to loathe the part of him that thinks that there’s  _anything_ attractive about Jensen Ackles.  
  
“The guy who totalled my car is an asshole, IMPALA,” Jensen says to the room.  
  
“One would say that you are an even bigger asshole, sir,” IMPALA’s calm, soothing voice plays into the room and Jared can’t help the laugh that tumbles out his mouth.  
  
“We really do need to work on that glitch of yours, Impy,” Jensen’s voice is stern, but he’s smiling.  
  
“Sir, we’ve spoken about your fondness for shortened names and how it doesn’t work when you’re addressing me personally.”  
  
“Whatever you say, Impy.” IMPALA doesn’t respond and Jensen turns his attention back to Jared. He’s still dressed in the robe, and Jared wonders if Jensen is naked underneath it.  
  
God, he really needs to get a grip on himself.  
  
“So here’s the deal. Fix the car and I have no beef with you,” Jensen says. “If you can’t fix it, let me know and we can come to some kind of arrangement.”  
  


  
  
  
  
Jared spends all of five minutes staring at the heap of scrap metal that used to be Jensen’s car before he gets IMPALA to call Jensen down here. Jensen’s in a meeting – surprisingly – so Jared has to wait for that to be done, and he takes his time to roam around Jensen’s garage. He has a whole fleet of cars in the garage behind the workshop; Jared can see them through the glass divider erected in the middle of the room. By his count, Jensen has seven additional cars, and they’re not cheap ones either. They all seem to be the latest model. There’s a shiny red  _2014 Audi R8_ , the new  _Porsche Cayman_ , a red  _Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe_ , a blue  _Jaguar XKR-S_ , a  _Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series_ car, the  _Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4_  and an  _Aston Martin V12 Vantage Coupe_. The car fanatic in Jared is crying at the beauty laid out in front of him.  
  
“Hey, IMPALA,” he calls out, deciding to try his luck. Perhaps he can run his hand on one longingly for a few fleeting seconds. Or take a selfie of himself next to a couple, whatever the hell, he just  _needs_  a closer look. “Do you think I could get in to see the rest of the cars?”  
  
“Yeah, buddy, I don’t think so,” a voice comes from behind Jared, startling him so hard that he jumps. “Not after what you did to the last car that came within touching distance of you.” Jensen purposely looks at the destroyed car that Jared had abandoned. Jared sighs and moves away from the glass partition. It was worth a shot at least.  
  
“It’s unfixable,” Jared says. “But you already knew that didn’t you?”  
  
“I did,” Jensen says. “The same way I know that someone who graduated from M.I.T. should never have been working as parking valet in the first place. So, what happened? What’s your story?”  
  
“Same old, same old, we’re in economic turmoil, no one’s hiring,” Jared replies with a shrug. He’s sure that he’s sent hundreds of applications but he’s heard nothing. Not even a call back. At first the thought it was a little weird, but it’s the way of the world now it seems.  
  
“You were second highest in your class,” Jensen points out. “If I can access that information easily, so can your prospective employers.”  
  
“You…looked me up?”  
  
“Of course I did!” Jensen raises an eyebrow. “I had to be sure that you were just some dumb kid who’s genuinely crashed my car, and not some paid for hire asshole.”  
  
“Yeah well, second highest or not, I haven’t gotten an offer yet,” Jared says.  
  
“Hmmm,” Jensen stares at Jared thoughtfully. “I’d like to hire you.”  
  
Jared freezes in his tracks. What?  
  
“Why?” The suspicion in his voice is clear even to him, and he winces slightly. He can’t help it; he would not trust Jensen Ackles as far as he could throw him. That’s just a fact.  
  
“Because the board of my company is tired of the image that I’ve been giving it, and they want me to tone it down a little.” Jensen’s words sound rehearsed but Jared doesn’t comment on it; he has some tact after all. “And you clearly despise me, so you’ll have no trouble saying  _no_  to me when I need you to.”  
  
“I don’t despise—“  
  
“Oh please,” Jensen waves his hand in the air, as if he’s physically dismissing Jared’s words. “I’m used to people hating me, so don’t worry your pretty, little head about it.” The matter-of-fact way in which Jensen says that makes Jared feel a pang of sadness. Sure, he  _doesn’t_  like Jensen, but Jared would never want anyone to be used to people hating them. It doesn’t sound like a good way to live life.  
  
“Hire me as what?” Jared’s desperate to change the subject before he stops feeling like Jensen’s the enemy. At this point, it’s the only constant that he has in his life.  
  
“My new assistant. Unpaid, of course. And I also have a position down here in the workshop; call it my personal pet project.”  
  
“And if I say no?”  
  
“The cops can be here in two minutes.”  
  
“Fine. Yes. I’ll work for you,” Jared spits out. “Though I’m not sure how you expect me to live and pay my bills with no salary.”  
  
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Jensen says. “You’ll be staying in one of the wings of this place. That way I can always reach you.”  
  
Jared really fucking hates Chad right now.  
  


  
  
  
  
When Jared tells Chad about his meeting with Jensen, Chad doesn’t make the obvious comments about Jared’s animosity being a smokescreen to hide the fact that he wants to ‘bone’ Jensen. He doesn’t even ask why Jensen would offer to the asshole that destroyed his car a  _job_. Instead Chad says,  
  
“Man, do you think he’ll give me a job too? I can’t even afford the new GTA. I’m like, depressed, man.”  
  
Jared just drinks his beer in silence and watches the rest of the game. Before the night is up he tacks on the number that Jensen had given him to Chad’s fridge. Not that he expects anything to come of it.  
  


  
  
  
  
Jared moves his stuff into Jensen’s place approximately two weeks after he crashes the car. He’s been on the job for two days already; Jensen’s given him a list of contacts that he needs to familiarise himself with in time for some movie premiere next week. Apparently Jensen’s thirty second cameo requires that he mingle and talk to a bunch of people that he can’t be bothered to know by name.  
  
He’s putting his clothes away when there’s a knock on the door, and he looks up to see Jensen standing in the door way, with just his boxers on, and they’re definitely not leaving a lot to the imagination.  
  
“Y-yes?” Jared says.  
  
“I need your help picking something to wear tonight,” Jensen replies. “I have a date.”  
  
Jared laughs openly at that because Jensen Ackles does not date. It’s a stock quote from the million interviews he gives.  _No time for dating._   _I don’t date. I’m not a one-person kind of guy. I don’t date, don’t date, don’t date_.  
  
It’s highly possible that Jared has some sort of problem.  
  
“With who?” he asks once he realises that Jensen is glaring at him.  
  
“Some guy called Chad?” Jensen says. “He called out of the blue, wanted to grab some drinks and talk. I must have given him my number at the gala last week. Who knows? I might like him enough to keep him around and get the board off my ass.”  
  
Jared contemplates warning Jensen about Chad. Chad isn’t gay, but Jared doesn’t put it past Chad to sleep with Jensen just so he can get a job. And for some reason, he doesn’t like the idea of Chad using Jensen like that. Plus, this is his fault for being stupid enough to think that Chad was joking about the whole job thing.  
  
“You can always fake date me instead,” Jared says.  
  
Wait.  
  
What the fuck is he saying?  
  
“I mean, I do owe you a shit ton of money, and I  _am_ going to be around for a while. And it would save you the complications of actually going out on the whole dating scene. Ugh! Dinner, movies and nasty, nasty date stuff. You don’t want that.”  
  
“But I hired you as my no-nonsense assistant because...I wanted to show the board that we wouldn’t get up to any...nonsense.”  
  
“How eloquently put.”  
  
“You know what I mean,” Jensen says exasperatedly.  
  
“Look at it this way; you’ll have an assistant that sticks around for more than a month  _and_  a fake-steady relationship all in one package.”  
  
Jensen thinks about it for a while and Jared finds himself tracing the line of freckles that are scattered on Jensen’s chest, his eyes dropping down to take in the curve of Jensen’s bow-legged stance.  
  
 _Keep your head in the game, Jared_.  
  
He clears his throat and turns to go back to his unpacking. He doesn’t even know why he’s suggesting this. If Jensen agrees, they’ll have to spend time together. Frequent all of those douchey VIP lounges that Jensen’s always falling out of.  
  
“You’ve got a deal, fake-boyfriend.”  
  


  
  
  
  
Their first official date is dinner with Jim Beaver, Jensen’s confidante and former guardian. They decide to introduce Jared as his boyfriend because Jensen’s not sure if fraternizing with the staff is something the board looks down on or not. Jared’s already in a foul mood because he spent the afternoon with Jensen’s tailor, who so happens to be a grade A asshole. Jensen found the entire ordeal amusing of course, though there’d been a strange look on his face when the he’d emerged in the suit that the tailor had picked out for him.  
  
“So, Jared,” Jim Beaver starts. “How exactly did you and Jensen meet?”  
  
“We had a mutual acquaintance,” Jensen replies. “Tom Welling. We met through him.”  
  
The name cuts through Jared’s chest like a knife. Tom Welling. He was the ultimate hate of Jared’s life; the sole reason why Jared ended up working as a fucking parking valet. Jared can’t prove it, but he is fairly certain.  
  
“You know what?” he says. “I’m not feeling so hot. Perhaps we can do this another time?” He stands and leaves the room. He’s a few paces away when he realises that even if he storms out, this is where he lives. He has to come back here.  
  
“What was that about?” Jensen’s apparently chosen to follow him out of the room. He frowns when he catches sight of Jared leaning against a wall. “Tom’s name was the first that came into my head.”  
  
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Jared snaps. “That guy ruined my life. You’re in the process of making my life  _worse_  of course you’d know each other.” Jensen looks taken aback at Jared’s words. A myriad of emotions flit across his face as he seemingly searches for a response.  
  
“You’re Tom’s Jared?” Jensen asks incredulously. “You’re the guy he had troubles with in college?”  
  
“If by trouble you mean that he almost got me thrown out, then yeah, I’m Welling’s fucking Jared.”  
  
“Interesting,” Jensen muses. “I’m sorry for mentioning his name. Will you come back to dinner now?”  
  
“Even after I said that you’re making my life worse?” Jared’s really got to stop being such an asshole to Jensen.  
  
“What can I say? Your disdain for me is refreshing.” Jensen laughs. “I have enough ass-kissers in my life.”  
  
“You’ve given me a job, a place to live  _despite_  the whole ruining a custom-made car thing,” Jared points out. “I should probably become one of your ass kissers.”  
  
“Well, your mouth and my ass can only be a winning combination.” Jensen drops him a lewd wink and heads back into the dining room.  
  
Jared has to take a minute or two until his heart stops beating rapidly.  
  
 _Remember, Jared. You. Hate. That. Guy._  
  
 _Sort of._  
  
 _A little._  
  
 _No, a_ lot.  
  


  
  
  
  
They’re at some high-society party, some socialite birthday or something. All Jared knows is that there’s enough Botox in this club to fill a deflated killer whale. There’s also enough cologne and perfume to knock out the aforementioned whale. Jensen seems to be in his element though; Jared doesn’t have to feed him names. He knows everyone, gets an umpteen number of claps on the back, air kisses and  _actual_ kisses.  
  
“This is my boyfriend, Jared,” Jensen is saying when Jared tunes back into the conversation. The birthday girl, Danneel, is supposedly one of Jensen’s best friends or something. Jared had been busy watching Top Gear when Jensen had called him with the details. His job was basically smiling, hand holding and making lovey-dovey faces at Jensen. Easy-frickin’-peasy.  
  
“Oh, Jensen, please. Come on, ‘fess up,” Danneel laughs. “He’s some trick that you picked up at some party, right?”  
  
Perhaps Jared misjudged the difficulty level of his task.  
  
“We’ve been keeping things under wraps,” Jensen explains. He looks a little hurt, which surprises Jared. Jensen always acts like he doesn’t give a shit what people think of him. Maybe it’s all an act.  
  
“Yeah, I’m going to need a little more convincing,” Danneel says, her martini sloshes at the side of the glass. Jared can’t help feeling bad for Jensen. He clears his throat, figuring that it’s probably time for him to speak up – not that Danneel has let him attempt to get a word in edgeways – but Jensen turns to him, grabs a fistful of his shirt and kisses Jared. It’s not a light kiss either, it’s a drawn out, heady, rush-bringing, strong and consuming kiss. When Jensen pulls back, Jared blinks at him sluggishly, his eyes focus on Jensen’s lips and before he knows what he’s doing, he pulls Jensen pack in and kisses him again.  
  
They break apart quickly when Danneel clears her throat. She has a small, knowing smile on her face, and Jared takes it that they’ve done enough to convince her.  
  
“Well, I hope it all works out for you both,” she says before she goes off to mingle with the rest of the guests. They both stare after her in favour of looking at each other. The only noise between them is the heavy thump of the rhythmic bass streaming across the club. Eventually Jensen breaks the silence.  
  
“I am so sorry,” he says. It sounds genuine enough, but Jared has no idea what he’s apologising for.  
  
“For what?”  
  
“For…grabbing you and kissing you like that.” Oh. That. Jared could play this two ways. He could convince himself that he still hates Jensen’s guts and act all high and mighty even though he kissed Jensen too. Or he could, shrug it off and tell Jensen that he’s okay with it. Given the fact that he can still feel a searing heat from where Jensen’s lips were pressed against his, and that all he wants to do is suck on Jensen’s bottom lip, his choice is pretty obvious.  
  
“Oh don’t worry about it,” Jared says. “In fact, I am up for as much convincing as you need to do.” Jensen stares at him with puzzlement for a few seconds but slowly his face morphs into that ridiculous smirk that Jared has come to appreciate – from an aesthetic viewpoint that is.  
  
“I knew that you could only resist me for so long,” he says. Jared rolls his eyes, but he can’t quite hide his grin.  
  


  
  
  
  
Colonel Aldis Hodge is an interesting character in the story of Jensen Ackles’ life. He ribs Jensen constantly and seems to be the only person who calls Jensen out on all the bullshit that he does. Apparently he’s been  _dying_ to meet Jared. Which only serves to put Jared on edge, and he spends the afternoon before Aldis shows for the first time panicking (which is absolutely Jensen’s word for this situation, not his) and asking Jensen if there are any important details that he’s supposed to know. Jensen seems thoroughly amused at the mere thought of Jared caring about how someone perceives him and is no help whatsoever. Of course, Jensen’s stupid smirk makes sense when Aldis takes one look at Jared before saying,  
  
“So, how much is he paying you to pretend to be his boyfriend?” Jared can’t help grinning.  
  
“Not a cent.”  
  
“Then I guess you’re the unlucky asshole who destroyed his car.”  
  
Jared’s smile drops.  
  
Anyway, Jared’s not really sure how Jensen and Aldis even became friends. Ackles Industries stopped selling arms a long time ago. Not that Jared pays attention to what they do and don’t sell. He just…heard about it somewhere.  
  
“We went to boarding school together,” Jensen explains one night when they’re hanging out in Jensen’s lounge. “I stopped all the mean kids from picking on him.”  
  
“By stops he means he bribed them all with cash,” Aldis says with a snort. He ducks the tortilla chip that Jensen throws his way. “That’s the only way he gets people to play with him.” The three of them laugh but Jared can tell that Jensen’s is forced. Although Aldis was joking, the comment quite clearly stings a little. Jared is becoming more and more aware of just how sensitive Jensen is and it’s changing his opinion of the man a little.  
  
Just a  _little_.  
  
“So are you ready for your trip to the heart of Africa?” Aldis asks Jensen. Jared unlocks the iPhone he’d been given for his assistant duties and brings up the itinerary. He frowns when he sees that Jensen’s scheduled to visit the Delta State region of Nigeria. No doubt Jim Beaver’s found some prince who’s willing to let them access the oil for a knockdown price.  
  
“Jim says that it’s the best option we have,” Jensen says in that resigned tone he tends to use when referring to Jim. Jared doubts that Jensen’s noticed. “I told him to go if it was that important to him, but he said that they wanted to deal with me personally.”  
  
“And you believed him?” Jared cuts in. Jim Beaver sends off ten different kinds of alarm bells in Jared’s head. There’s just something  _off_  about the guy, but Jensen loves and trusts him while Jared’s just the dumb schmuck who crashed one of Jensen’s cars. Who’s Jensen more likely to stand by? Jared usually knows when to keep his mouth shut.  
  
“Yeah, of course I did.” Jensen shoots Jared a strange look. “He’s like a father-figure to me, Jared. I trust Jim with my life.” Jensen makes his excuses soon after that and heads to bed, leaving Jared alone with Aldis. Silence looms over them as Jared does his best to ignore the way Aldis is sizing him up. Aldis hasn’t offered up much personal information about himself, yet Jared knows that he and Jensen have some sort of brotherly bond that no one could ever break. It makes Jared happy that Jensen has someone like that in his life - happy in the sense that  _everyone_  should have someone like that, not happy because it’s  _Jensen_.  
  
“I like you,” Aldis says eventually. “You’re different from his other assistants.” He sounds surprised almost and that makes Jared feel antsy. What if he’s said this before and one of Jensen’s former assistants has gone on to prove him wrong? What if he completely and utterly fucks this up and gets Jensen in trouble with the board. And what if this is no longer about paying off a debt, but doing a job for a man that he’s come to admire. Sure, Jensen might engage in business practises that Jared will never approve of, but Jared has seen the good in Jensen. He’s seen the basketball games Jensen plays with the kids from the children’s home across town. He’s witnessed Jensen consoling Danneel after her boyfriend dumped her. He’s seen Jensen bawl his eyes at his parents’ grave. Jared’s seen a whole bunch of things that he’s not supposed to have – including the  _real_  Jensen. It’s almost as if Jensen’s an enigma that he’s desperate to figure out, a stain that Jared can’t quite rid himself off. A perfect mark that he doesn’t want to see disappear. Jared realises then in that moment that he no longer hates Jensen.  
  
Hell, he’s not sure that he ever hated Jensen.  
  
“In what way am I different?” Jared asks finally. “Am I the only one who hasn’t slept with him?” The remark slips out before Jared can catch himself and he holds his breath and waits for Aldis to get all defensive. Jared’s caught off guard when Aldis barks out a loud laugh and slaps his hand against his thigh.  
  
“Aw, man,” he says. “That right there? That’s why. You just…you don’t let him get away with anything. You’re his match. And I reckon that he knows it too. It’s ironic really.” The strange look in Aldis’ eyes from before is back, and it’s as though he’s staring right into Jared’s soul and seeing everything. It feels like he knows all of Jared’s secrets  
  
“I’m sensing that there’s something that you’re not telling me,” he says.  
  
“ _I_  don’t need to tell you anything, man.”  
  
The implication is clear and Jared can’t quite help wondering if he really wants to know.  
  


  
  
  
  
The day after that, Jared corners Jensen in the kitchen. He’s been trying and failing to forget his conversation with Aldis.  _It’s ironic really_. What was?  
  
“I knew who you were before you got here,” Jensen admits when Jared asks him what Aldis meant. “Tom Welling is a friend of mine. He told me that I should ruin your life when he found out that you were working for me.”  
  
Jared sighed. Tom Welling was the proverbial pain in his ass.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Jensen says. “I should be asking you that.”  
  
“Beats me. One day we were classmates, the next, he’s stealing my ideas and running for the Douchebag of the Millennium awards.”  
  
“Did you ever knock him back?” Jensen asks. “Usually he gets all asshole-ish when he likes someone.” Jared scoffs at that. Tom Welling is a heartless bastard who’s incapable of anything but _hate_.  
  
“I have no idea,” Jared says. It’s not like he’s committed every moment he’s had with Tom to memory.  
  
“Don’t worry about Tom, I’ll sort him out,” Jensen says. “Once you’re done here with me, in approximately twenty year’s time, you’ll have your pick of jobs without Tom screwing it all up.”  
  
There’s a part of Jared that wants to huff and tell Jensen that he doesn’t need anyone to sort his battles out for him, but…the other part feels kind of warm all over and safe and—  
  
Really, Jared’s got to remember that this isn’t real. They’re not real, and that he’s only here to pay off a debt.  
  
He ignores the voice in his head that tries to poke a hole into his argument.  
  


  
  
  
  
They carry on like over the next few months. By day, they’re boss and personal assistant, by night they’re love’s young dream. Jared often gets carried away and lets Jensen drag him into a supply closet or something, but he can never quite get enough. This  _thing_  with Jensen is like an itch that Jared needs to scratch every once in a while even though he knows that he shouldn’t. It’ll only make the itching worse.  
  
Chad tells Jared that he’s becoming a cliché. He also reminds Jared that when he’d first showed up at Jensen’s place, he’d been in the middle of firing his old assistant.  
  
“What’s your point?” Jared says. He tosses the game controller aside and turns to face Chad. “I’m not going to fall in love with him, if that’s what you’re worried about. I won’t be leaving his place begging for him to take me back or some romcom-esque shit like that.”  
  
“Romcom-esque? What does that even mean?” Chad says with exasperation.” My point is that, two months ago, you hated this guy. And now, he’s got you under his spell. Once he’s done fucking around with you, he’ll toss you to the curb, man. I’m telling you. Why else do you think he made you become his assistant and gave you a place to stay? He saw what you looked like and decided that he wanted in your pants.”  
  
“He didn’t  _make_  me do anything,” Jared argues. “And he’s been nowhere near my pants. We’re in a  _fake_  relationship. We fool around a little bit when we get tipsy. That’s about it.”  
  
“That’s how it starts, yeah, and well, fine - don’t come crying to me in a month’s time, whining about how much you love him,” Chad says.  
  
Jared really hates Chad sometimes.  
  


  
  
  
  
Chad calls Jared a couple of weeks after that, and he sounds panicked and freaked out, and it takes a good ten minutes for Jared to get a word of sense out of him. Eventually Chad blurts out that he has a son; an honest to God three-month old son (who probably screams a lot).  
  
Jared does not want Chad’s life.  
  
“His mom is some chick I met at some dive bar,” Chad all but wails. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!”  
  
“Uh…” is all Jared can say, because he’s just as shocked as Chad is.  
  
“And she’s been saying all this shit, threatening to get lawyers on me, says she has no money for a  _stroller_. I’m twenty-five, Jared. Twenty-five. I’m too young for this.”  
  
“You could always get a better job?” Jared suggests. He’s out of his element here, and he’s not exactly rolling in cash. Well. None that he can spend anyway; but that’s a story for another time.  
  
“I need you to talk to Ackles for me, man,” Chad says desperately. “I know that it’s awkward and a big ask, but I promise that I’ll make it up to you. I had him in the palm of my hand a couple of months ago, but I don’t know, he blew me off. Round about the time you and h…” Chad’s voice trails off.  
  
“Yeah about that,” Jared says quickly. “That mighta been my fault.”  
  
“You cock-blocked me!”  
  
“Chad, you’re not  _gay_ ,” Jared says exasperatedly.  
  
“For Jensen Ackles’ unlimited supply of dough, I’ll be anything anyone wants me to be.”  
  
“Don’t fret, alright,” Jared sighs with his displeasure before continuing, “I’ll speak to Jensen and see what he can do.”  
  


  
  
  
  
Jared waits until Jensen’s saddled with beer and an unhealthy amount of pizza before he corners him. Technically, Jared has a couch and TV in his own wing of the house, but he rarely spends time there. In between running around after Jensen and working in the workshop, he doesn’t have the energy to make his way back there, unless it’s to sleep. So he tends to hang out with Jensen (when he’s in), watching movies and playing Madden. Jensen’s usually in a good mood, so Jared hopes that this goes without any hitches. Plus, it’s not like he’s ever asked Jensen for anything before.  
  
“I have a favour to ask you,” Jared says right as Jensen lets out a burp and leans back against the couch. Jared bites back the disparaging remark on his tongue about etiquette when surrounded by other people.  
  
“Is it a sexual favour?” Jensen says. He licks his lips slowly. “Because it if it is, the answer is yes.”  
  
“In your wildest dreams, Ackles.”  
  
“Oh, you don’t even know.”  
  
“I have this friend, Chad, who’s in a bit of trouble,” Jared says, choosing to ignore Jensen’s remark. “He was the guy who you were going to meet up for drinks. He stole your number from my phone. Anyway, he works for the valet company and they pay peanuts and just, he has a kid – totally out of the blue – and he needs money and a better paying job, and if I had the spare cash, I’d give it to him bu—“  
  
“I’ll help out,” Jensen interrupts before Jared can continue rambling. “Before you explode. Ever heard of taking a breath between sentences?”  
  
“Just like that? You’ll help out?”  
  
“Yeah,” Jensen says. “So do you want me to buy out the valet company and make him the manager or get him a job here with you?”  
  
Jared stops to consider it. Working alongside Chad all day long would be fun, but Chad had always had a bad influence on him. Jared can also tell that Jensen and Chad would clash. Sure, Jared was the one who hated Jensen, but Chad’s carefree attitude and general douchiness would grind Jensen’s gears. On the other hand, Chad being the manager of a business is a hilarious prospect that Jared would really like to witness, and hey, either way Chad will have more money than he does now.  
  
“Buy out the company.”  
  
“I thought you two were best friends?”  
  
“We are,” Jared says. “But I’m not sure him working here would end well. If anything, there’d be bloodshed. And lots of it.”  
  
“Noted.”  
  


  
  
  
  
Jared’s woken up by the sound of his phone buzzing in his ear. He groans to himself softly and grabs his pillow, shoves it over his head and hopes that whoever is calling at this hour fucks off within the next ten seconds.  
  
They don’t.  
  
“ _What_?” Jared all but growls when he answers.  
  
“Jared, it’s me.” Jensen.  
  
“Look, I know that I let you go early yesterday and that you’re technically not supposed to start until 7. Oh, and I know that I don’t  _own_  you – you’ve made that very clear and—“  
  
“Can you just get to the point please?” Jared cuts in impatiently. “It’s too early for me to find your rambling anything but extremely annoying. Jensen chuckles and Jared thinks about punching him in the jaw; he feels more awake already.  
  
“I went to a party last night and one thing lead to another and I ended up—“  
  
“Hooking up with some rich, bored, drunk person dumb enough to sleep with you?”  
  
“If you’re jealous, Jared, just say the word,” Jensen shoots back. “I have plenty of love for everyone.”  
  
“Anyway, so you slept with someone, so what?”  
  
“I kinda need you to get over here and make it look like I slept with you.” Jared frowns for a second before he remembers. Right. They’re fake dating. Got it.  
  
“No.”  
  
“What do you mean  _no_ ,” Jensen exclaims. “Fine. I made the mistake of asking you nicely, but now I’m telling you. Get your ass over here. I’ll text you the address.”  
  
Jared sighs when Jensen hangs up abruptly. Sometimes, he hates his life.  
  


  
  
  
  
Jensen agrees to interview Chad at his apartment when Chad has to cancel at the last minute. Although he’s bought the company, he tells Jared that he has to make sure Chad’s the right man for the job before appointing him as manager. Jared’s convinced that Jensen has other motives.  
  
And fifteen minutes after they arrive at Chad’s placed, Jared’s convinced that Jensen is actually the devil in disguise. Chad’s been saddled with his kid. Said kid currently resembles a small, loud, wailing blob and Jared kind of wants to shoot himself. Chad’s jiggling the baby up and down and making cooing noises. But the baby just wails louder. Jared would cry too if Chad was cooing in his face.  
  
“Sorry about this,” Jared says to Jensen, who doesn’t even look annoyed. He’s too busy cracking open a can of beer and helping himself to a slice of pizza. His eyes are fixed firmly on the television screen where’s there’s a football game playing.  
  
“Huh?” Jensen says around a mouthful of pizza, and really, Jared should find it gross and completely unsurprising that Jensen has no table manners but…he finds it kind of adorable.  
  
Man, Jared really needs to get laid. Like, yesterday.  
  
“You’re not really here to interview Chad are you?” Jared asks. He can still hear Chad’s son bawling at the top of his lungs. Jared’s ashamed to admit that he can’t remember the kid’s name.  
  
“Actually, we’re here to babysit,” Jensen says. “I did the interview with Chad over the phone. He knows how to use a calculator and Excel and he has all ten fingers, so we’re good.”  
  
“He knows how to…,” Jared trails off as he processes all of what Jensen’s said. “Wait a minute,  _babysit_. You’re joking right?”  
  
Chad re-enters the room, with piece of paper in one hand and his child nestled in his other arm. The crying has not subsided.  
  
“So, uh, I have a list of everything Kyle needs here, and it should all be in the bag.” Jared knows that Chad’s meant to be meeting Sophia, the poor woman that he knocked up, but he was pretty sure that was meant to be  _after_ the interview. Still, Chad looks tired as hell and to Jared’s surprise; his best friend is actually trying to look after his son. Giving him a night off isn’t a bad idea. Chad hands the baby over to an unsuspecting Jared and races out of the door.  
  
It –  _Kyle -_ stops crying almost immediately and Jared stares at him. Jared’s not really a baby person. He doesn’t look at them and instantly melt into a puddle of goo or smile like some sort of doped up cokehead. He is indifferent to all babies. Except this one, because he can’t help it, he looks down at Kyle and he smiles.  
  
“He’s stopped crying,” Jensen says after a moment. Jared looks up to see that Jensen’s attention is fixed firmly on him. “You’re a natural, man.”  
  
“Yeah, right, he’s probably just tired or something.” Kyle falls asleep soon after that leaving Jensen to watch his game while Jared does his best not to think about how much he actually likes their night in.  
  


  
  
  
  
When he finally gets home, he gets a text with a picture attached from Chad. It’s of him and Jensen; Jared’s got his head on Jensen’s shoulder and Jensen’s arm is curled around him. They’re both asleep. Jared looks down at the accompanying text.  _Rom. Com. Esque._  
  
He deletes it.  
  
Jared’s still thinking about the picture when he goes out to dinner with Jensen. He can’t  _stop_  thinking about it and that bothers him more than he can say. So Jared does what he does best and he tries to goad Jensen into a fight.  
  
“Don’t you have some party to gatecrash tonight? It’d probably be a lot more believable than a candlelight dinner for two.” There’s isn’t even a flicker of surprise or hurt on Jensen’s face, just amusement. It’s always fucking amusement, like he knows something that Jared doesn’t.  
  
“What have I done to offend you now? Or what haven’t I done?” Jensen asks. He doesn’t sound upset, just curious. It’s almost as if he’s used to Jared’s moods, almost as if they’re a real couple.  
  
Which they’re not, Jared tells himself. And they never will be. Nope. Never.  
  
“I was just wondering,” Jared says from behind a menu.  
  
“Hmm, yeah, the same way you were wondering after I spent half a day at the children’s home, after I took a bunch of toys to that kids hospital, after that charity fundraiser, after I paid off Cara in payroll’s bank loan and generally after I do anything that doesn’t make me seem as though I’m an evil man who uses his wealth to very bad things.”  
  
“Oh yes, you’re a regular saint, Ackles,” Jared shoots back.  
  
“I’m just saying, man, you gotta give credit where credit’s due,” Jensen says. “Thanks to me, Chad’s going to have a lot more money to spend on that kid of his.”  
  
“Thank you for that, by the way,” Jared says quickly. “I’ll pay you back one day.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Jensen says with a dismissive wave. “What are friends for?”  
  
If Jared’s a lot nicer than he usually is over the course of the evening, Jensen doesn’t mention it.  
  


  
  
  
  
Jared’s favourite days are when he and Jensen go into the workshop to work on Jensen’s project. At the moment, Jensen’s in the middle of creating some sort of robotic arm. Jared’s not quite sure what Jensen plans on doing with it.  
  
“Prosthesis?”  
  
“That’s too risky.”  
  
“Manufacturing?”  
  
“Too expensive, not efficient enough.”  
  
“Jerking off?”  
  
“Only if you want to permanently damage your dick.”  
  
“I’ll leave that job to you,” Jensen says with a smile that eventually gives way to a small, adorable frown. He cocks his head to the side. “Though that would be counterproductive for both of us. You can ruin it  _metaphorically_  any time you want, though. Just say the word.”  
  
“Why not go for a whole suit?” Jared ignores Jensen’s come on, because he’s found that the more he listens, the more enticing the prospect of having sex with Jensen is. Jared’s not going to be one of Jensen’s  _flings_  or his groupies. He has some self-respect, dammit.  
  
“What would I need with a full, robotic, protective suit?” Jensen asks, though he does seem to be intrigued by Jared’s suggestion.  
  
“You don’t really need the arm,” Jared points out. “Or  _IMPALA_  or the walking coffee-maker but you still designed them anyway.”  
  
“That’s a bold-faced lie,” Jensen says. “I totally need the walking-coffee maker.”  
  
“The time is seven-twenty-six-PM.”  _IMPALA_ chimes in randomly and Jensen grins.  
  
“Needing you is a given,  _IMPALA,_ I don’t even need to mention it. Right Jared?”  
  
They’re completely ridiculous, but yeah, workshop days are definitely Jared’s favourite.  
  


  
  
  
  
The day before Jensen’s due to leave for his trip, Jared stops by his office. He’s been looking over some records from both Jensen’s company and a couple of rivals, and something just doesn’t add up. Ackles Industries is generating twice as much income as the next highest earning company. From what Jared can see, only seventy five percent of that seems to be coming from actual sales of oil. The rest is just  _there_  on the books. He thinks about printing out the evidence but he decides to just bring it up on his work iPad instead. Jensen’s on the phone when Jared walks in, laughing hard at what the person on the other end is saying. When he sees Jared he makes his excuses and hangs up.  
  
“What’s up?” he asks. Jared hands him the iPad. Jensen’s reaction is instantaneous. A dark cloud falls over his face and his mouth narrows into a thin line. He gives Jared a calculated look.  
  
“This is none of your business,” he says coldly. “You are paying off a debt to  _me_. You work for me. That means that you do what I tell you to, and that you don’t go snooping around. Is that clear?” Jared falters. He’s never seen Jensen behave so seriously before, and he’s been a dick to Jensen from day one. It doesn’t make sense for this to be the one thing that touches a nerve. Unless Jensen has something to hide - perhaps he’s complicit in Ackles’ Industries shady dealings. That’s probably it.  
  
“Fine,” Jared says, feeling a little hurt. “I’ll just be on my way back downstairs.” He reaches out to take the iPad but Jensen pulls it away from him.  
  
“Pick up my dry cleaning and go home,” he says. “Get HR to give you a new tablet tomorrow.” As Jensen’s talking he scribbles something down on a piece of paper and slides it over to Jared.  
  
 _Meet me at Joe’s. We’ll talk then._  
  
Jared frowns at the note, but he doesn’t question it. If anything he’s starting to regret snooping around in the first place.  
  


  
  
  
  
_Joe’s_  is a laundromat downtown that Jensen used to hang out in. Jared only knows this because Jensen told him one night when Jared asked if he ever got tired of the constant attention. It was shortly after that night at Chad’s when Jared was still baffled at Jensen signing them up for babysitting duty. He realised soon after that it’d been Jensen’s way of just,  _relaxing_  for once without the glare of people who expected him to be the life and soul of the party twenty-four seven. Anyway, Jensen mentioned that he still went to sit in this laundromat whenever he felt things were getting too much.  
  
Or, whenever he wanted to have clandestine conversations that no-one was meant to overhear.  
  
“I feel like we’re in a Bond movie,” Jared says as Jensen feeds quarters into one the machines. He’s wearing a cap, sunglasses, a baggy hoodie and jeans, a far cry from the usual suit that he wears daily.  
  
“Yeah, well, if you keep snooping around, that might not be too far from reality,” Jensen says. He sounds serious and Jared lets the smile drop from his face.  
  
“What’s going on?”  
  
“Those documents you found, I know all about them,” Jensen says. “I know that we seem to have more money than we’ve earned, and I know how it got there. I’ve known for the last two years. And when I tried to investigate, it was brought to my attention that it was my signature on everything. I sign off on every important contract; any less-than-kosher dealings will fall on my head.”  
  
“So, you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place?” Jared bites his lip nervously; he doesn’t really like the sound of any of this.  
  
“Well, yes and no. The extra money comes from dealing arms, sometimes through US Government contracts, or through armies and rebel groups themselves. I’ve been gathering evidence of the destruction that they cause…” Jensen’s voice trails off, and he checks to see if anyone around them is listening. Jared does his best to process what Jensen’s said. If he’s got all of this evidence then…  
  
“You’re planning on blackmailing your own company?” he says incredulously when the proverbial light bulb flicks on.  
  
“It’s the only way I can put an end to this, and after this trip, i should have everything that I need.”  
  
“Why are you telling me all of this?”  
  
“Those files were classified, completely locked down,” Jensen says. “You only have access to  _my_  files, and those weren’t saved anywhere on my cloud storage or intranet.”  
  
“Meaning that someone put them there.”  
  
“Exactly,” Jensen says. “I have less time than I thought. I managed to delete the files and get rid of the trace, but they could try again. I leave tonight.”  
  
“Isn’t that a little dangerous?” Jared asks. “Won’t whoever it is know what you’re really up to? What are you really up to anyway?”  
  
"All I need is some concrete evidence that Jim is doing shady deals on the side. I'm going to be wearing a wire, taking pictures, that kind of thing."  
  
"Right," Jared says with a frown. "And they won't know what you're up to?"  
  
“No, they won’t know.” Jensen’s tone is assertive and confident. Jared’s glad that Jensen’s not freaking out because he is. He’s freaking out a lot. “Jim’s been pushing for me to handle this deal myself, so the other board members will probably be suspicious if I just back out of the trip.”  
  
“Or it could be a trap,” Jared says. “What if something happens to you? If Jim doesn't suspect that you know, why is he pushing it?” A dryer door slams shut, and Jared does his best not to jump; he's not really good at this whole covert meeting thing.  
  
“If I stay, I’m screwed, if I don’t go, I’m screwed,” Jensen says. “It’s a lose-lose situation.”  
  
Jared opens his mouth to perhaps warn Jensen, but what comes out is “Yeah, but...I don’t want you to get hurt.”  
  
“Right, of course you don’t,” Jensen lets out a harsh laugh that sends a cold chill down Jared’s spine. “I’m only telling you this because I need you to pass the message onto Aldis.”  
  
“Why would I want you to get hurt?” Jared’s absolutely not going to let that comment slide. Sure, he can be a little brash with Jensen, and extremely asshole-ish, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care. If Jared didn’t care, he wouldn’t have been fake-dating Jensen for the past two months, or let Jensen invade his space continuously, get Jensen home when he was drunk and all of the million other things that he’s done.  
  
“You don’t like me, you don’t like my company, and you’re not even surprised about the whole illegal arms thing, so I guess you heard and  _believed_  all the rumours beforehand,” Jensen shrugs. “Why the hell would you care?”  
  
“Because you’re a good guy--” Jared starts to respond but Jensen cuts in,  
  
“I don’t need your pity. I screwed up; I know I did.”  
  
“You didn’t,” Jared insists. “You didn’t make this deal, and you’re trying to put an end to it. The Jensen Ackles I thought I knew three months ago doesn’t exist. I was wrong about you.”  
  
“Does this mean that you’ll finally give into your overwhelming desire to sleep with me?” Just like that, Jared knows that whatever  _moment_  they were having is over. Jensen seems to have heard what he wanted to.  
  
“That’ll never happen.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

**THREE MONTHS LATER**

Jensen is missing. It’s been three months and when Jared wakes up in the morning, there’s never any sign, any call, any text, any fucking annoying come-on; there’s nothing. They’re still not sure what’s happened, though thanks to Jared’s current status as Jensen’s significant other he’s still privy to information such as  _we have reason to believe that Jensen is dead_. And hell, there’s no reason not to believe them. At first. Jared’s been keeping a close eye on everything and using IMPALA to hack the security footage - Jim Beaver has been behaving strangely since Jensen’s disappearance.

  
Jensen was not supposed to disappear. He was meant to go on his trip, drill some fucking oil, snap some pictures of the illegal arms that he’d been so sure he would see and then get his stupid ass back to New York.  
  
“What have I told you about obsessing over this guy?” Katie, one of Jensen’s bodyguards appears behind Jared’s shoulder as he watches footage of Jim Beaver at some press conference. Katie’s a real firecracker, and despite the fact that there’s no Jensen to watch over she’s stuck around dutifully for the last three months. Jared gets the feeling that Jensen asked her to. The irony is that when he and Katie first met, she’d thought that he was some sort of threat and tasered him with her pink-covered iPhone.  
  
So he was a teeny bit scared of her.  
  
“I don’t know,” Jared says when he realises that she’s actually waiting for an answer. “I’m too busy trying to find out where the hell Jensen could be.”  
  
“They said that he’s most likely dead.” Jared bites back the angry comment he so desperately wants to make. He takes a deep breath instead and turns to face her head on.  
  
“He’s not dead.” Jared doesn’t know how he knows, he just does. Jensen is lost out there somewhere and no one is looking for him.  
  
Jared’s not quite sure when he started to care so much but he does.  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
Jared’s woken up by the sound of glass smashing everywhere. His eyes fly open and he sits up quickly, wincing when his back muscles protest. He is soon drawn to the loud, heavy footsteps approaching his bedroom and he scrambles out of bed and looks for a weapon, anything, a baseball bat, or a shoe, whatever.  
  
Jim’s finally making his move, Jared thinks, he’s realised that Jared’s on to him and he’s here to take care of him, the same way he took care of Jensen. Faced with no potential weapons in sight, Jared stands at the foot of the bed and waits.  
  
And then seconds later the door opens and a fucking robot walks in.  
  
“Good morning, Mr. Ackles,” IMPALA says and Jared gapes. No...It can’t be. Can it?  
  
 _“Why not go for a whole suit?”_  
  
 _“What would I need with a full, robotic, protective suit?”_  
  
Holy fucking shit.  
  
“What is this,” Jared says, more to himself than anything. “What the hell is going on here?”  
  
The robot takes a step forward and then reaches forward and presses some sort of button. The suit falls away, large metal parts clanging loudly on the floor, leaving a person standing there in front of Jared.  
  
It’s Jensen.  
  
“Honey, I’m home?” he says weakly. Jared has to sit down on his bed before his knees give out.  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
“I can’t believe you’re still here,” Jensen says, hours later as they sit at Jared’s kitchen table with breakfast surrounding them. Jensen’s been chatty for the past ten minutes, almost as if he’s oblivious to Jared’s stony silence. Jared’s not angry, he’s just numb. He doesn’t understand how Jensen can just go missing for three months and then turn up in a suit of armour. His laptop beeps before he can reply to Jensen and Jared slides it over opens it quickly. There’s activity in Jim Beaver’s office; he’s in the middle of a heated phone call. Jared taps a few keys and sound filters into the room.  
  
 _\--What do you mean that you don’t know where he is?_  
  
 _\--No--no._  
  
 _\--Don’t give me that bull. Killing him would have been a step too far. All I needed was for him to be gone for a year. A damn year. Just long enough to get this proposal approved without him throwing his weight around_.  
  
 _\--Look, I’ll find him. But if he finds out that I was involved in any way, you and your men won’t know what’s hit you._  
  
Jim cuts the call off and leaves his office, slamming the door shut in his wake. Jared turns to look at Jensen. Jensen looks as indifferent as he did five minutes ago. Jared sighs to himself. He finally has some  _answers_  but it doesn’t make the sinking feeling in his stomach go away.  
  
“What did they do to you?” Jared asks. “The kidnappers, did they hurt you?”  
  
“I got shot,” Jensen says easily. “But that was an accident. It was just a kid who was handling a gun for the first time. Th--they wanted me to build them a weapon of mass destruction. They didn’t know that I had no dealings with all of the arms stuff so I had to bluff my way through it.”  
  
“You made the suit instead,” Jared says.  
  
“I had to do something; they would have killed me otherwise.”  
  
“Did you build it by yourself?” Jared asks.  
  
“No, they had some scientist at their camp, and he helped. He spoke the language so he played liaison. He...he saved my life.”  
  
“What happened to him?” Jared’s not sure that he needs to ask when the look on Jensen’s face tells him more than what he needs to know.  
  
“He didn’t make it.”  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
News of a giant robot hits the papers pretty quickly. Though the accounts don’t actually say ‘ _giant robot'_. It was pretty late when Jensen had arrived at Jared’s part of his house and most of the eyewitnesses just happened to see a dark, blurred object getting out of a plane. Jared now knows that Jensen got into contact with Aldis somehow and organised a flight home that way once he’d made it to a neighbouring country.  
  
“So when are you going to let everyone know that you’re back?” Jared asks as he walks into his bedroom. It’s a week since Jensen has been back. Jensen’s mood has darkened with each day, the pretence that he’d so desperately tried to keep up slipping away and being eaten up by the stress of what he’s been through. He’s not eating, he’s not sleeping and he’s not talking. And...  
  
There’s some sort of metal object right in the center of his chest.  
  
Jensen quickly pulls his t-shirt down over his head and looks down at the floor. Jared remembers Jensen telling him that he was shot, but not where. He’d assumed that it was a flesh wound.  
  
“What the hell is that?”  
  
“It’s an iron plate embedded into my chest,” Jensen says. His answer takes Jared by surprise; he’d been expecting a grunt and the cold shoulder. “There was an explosion and I got in the way and a piece of shrapnel entered my chest. This plate is the only thing stopping it from piercing my heart.”  
  
Jared doesn’t know what to say to that. He can’t find any comforting words that don’t sound generic in his mind.  
  
“That guy I was telling you about?” Jensen continues. “He saved my life. He saved my life and I...watched him die.”  
  
Jared really wishes that he knew what to say. He wishes that could do something other than staring dumbly at Jensen.  
  
“Call a press conference for tomorrow,” Jensen says when Jared doesn’t respond. “I’ll let everyone know that I’m back. Not that they care. And once you’ve done that, you’re free to leave. I won’t make you pay me for the car...I always hated that particular model anyway.”  
  
 _So why did you drive it?_  Is Jared wants to say. It’s what he would have said before this mess happened, and he’s tempted to say it, just to see if the old Jensen will come out, if only for a few seconds.  
  
“I can’t just leave you like this!” Jared finally finds his voice. “And I don’t mind being here.”  
  
“I’ve been held against my will for three months. I’ve been scared out of my wits, I’ve been on the brink of death, and I’ve watched a man bleed to death in front of me, Jared. What I don’t need is your pity. I should never have made you become my assistant. It was arrogant and ridiculous and… part of a person I don’t want to be anymore.”  
  
“You didn’t.”  
  
“Didn’t…?”  
  
“You didn’t  _make_  me become your assistant,” Jared confesses. “I...I have money. A lot of it.”  
  
Jared’s wealth is probably his best kept secret. He hasn’t told anyone about - not even Chad, and Chad’s the only friend that he has - which is probably why he’s never told him. Jared’s story isn’t unique to him; it’s your classic my-uber-rich-parents-were-never-around-when-i-was-growing-up-and-i’m-still-bitter about-it bullshit except he doesn’t cry about it while spending their handouts. His parents still haven’t gotten the whole  _not speaking to them_  memo, so Jared just lets the monthly allowance they give him pile up in his account. He’s only ever dipped into it once when he was in-between jobs and close to freezing to death in his tiny apartment. He might be proud but he’ll never be open to losing parts of his anatomy to  _frostbite_.  
  
“So, you could have just paid me off from day one, but you didn’t because you have some sort of grudge against your parents?” Jensen doesn’t sound impressed, if anything, he sounds angry.  
  
“It’s not a grudge, I just...they were never around and they never came to visit me at college and I just got sick of feeling like an outsider, feeling like they didn’t love me.”  
  
“Yeah well, that’s stupid.” Jared decides to let that one slide. Jensen’s upset and he’s going through a rough time. “They’re your parents, and maybe they’re not the best, but they’re the only ones you’ve got. And that’s a lot more than some people have.”  
  
“I don’t need a--” Jared cuts himself off. “Thank you for the advice.”  
  
“Don’t do that,” Jensen says. “Stop treating me like I’m some sort of broken toy! I used to be able to count on you to be yourself with me. If I’m going to get my life back on track, I need you to…”  
  
“Be myself?” Jared asks. “I wasn’t very nice to you before you left. It was one of the things that I regretted back when they said that you were---that you might--”  
  
“How about this,” Jensen says. “When it’s just us, we act like nothing ever happened. I never went missing and I never turned up in a giant robotic suit.”  
  
“Whoa, steady on; there’s no way that I can forget the suit,” Jared says with a smile. “It definitely needs some work though.”  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
Aldis comes over soon afterward; to talk about the press conference that Jensen’s having tomorrow. Jared’s not sure what they talk about, they speak in private and he hovers outside the door nervously. He feels like there’s a lot that Jensen isn’t telling him, and he has to stop himself from barging into the room more than once.  
  
Instead he goes back to his laptop and watches Jim Beaver.  
  
 **THREE WEEKS LATER**  
  
 _Jensen Ackles has no plans to back down from his controversial decision to sell his company Ackles Industries. The outgoing CEO said that his position had been made untenable and that he saw no option other than to sell. This comment comes as a direct response to the interview given by Jim Beaver (Ackles’ former guardian) last week. Beaver claimed that Ackles was still reeling from his three month ordeal, and that common sense would soon prevail._  
  
 _Beaver was unable for further comments when we reached out to him._  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
Jared’s watching Jensen working in his workshop when someone taps his shoulder. He turns around to see that it's Katie.  
  
“Jim Beaver’s at the door,” she announces. “He wants to see Jensen.” Jared looks away from her and back to Jensen, who’s currently wearing safety glasses and bright red ear defenders. He’s doing something with the high-carbon alloys that he asked Jared to order a couple of days ago. Now that talking about what happened is off limits between them, and that Jensen’s quit his job, he spends almost all of his time in workshop working on that damn suit. Katie claims that it’s a coping method, but Jared’s worried that Jensen will overexert himself and make that piece of shrapnel finish him off once and for all. Realistically, he knows that the iron chest piece will stop that from happening, but it’s still kind of weird.  
  
“Jared?” Jared turns back once again to see Katie watching him expectantly. He wonders when everyone stopped asking Jensen what he wanted and began to defer to him instead. That thought is promptly cut off by a series of loud bangs and he turns around to see Jensen pummelling something with a hammer.  
  
Yeah, that’s probably why.  
  
“I don’t think he’s going to want to see Jim.” Jensen hasn’t confronted Jim yet and truth be told, Jared doesn’t think he will. And knowing Jim, he definitely will. Unbeknown to Jensen, Jared’s still tracking Jim’s activity, still monitoring his phone calls. Jim’s pissed. That much is a given. What Jared doesn’t know is if Jim’s figured out that Jensen was the person inside robot suit?  
  
“Figured as much,” Katie says. “Guess I get to flash the ol’ gun today. Well. If he’s persistent.”  
  
Jared blinks at her.  
  
“Yeah, that sounded so much better in my head,” she admits. “Anyway. How are you holding up?” No one’s asked Jared that in all the time that Jensen’s been back. Not that they should have - he’s not important here. And Katie and Chad are probably the only ones who saw what Jared was like when Jensen was missing. He’s not sure how he’s holding up, but he’s not the one who’s been through a traumatic experience. Does it really matter?  
  
“I’m fine,” he says. He can hear the lie in his own voice. Katie doesn’t question his answer, she nods and gives him a pointed look that manages say  _I don’t believe you_ and  _If you ever need anyone to talk to, you know where I am_ at the same time. He nods back at her.  
  
“Can you please go and rescue Jensen before he does damage to himself?” Jensen’s moved on from the hammer to a blow torch. This wouldn’t be a problem if he wasn’t handling it and yawning at the same time.  
  
“He refuses to leave that place until he’s done,” Jared says. “Don’t think that I haven’t tried to make him take a break.”  
  
“Keep trying. If anyone can make him leave,  _you_  can.” With that said, Katie leaves.  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
Jensen’s in bed but still awake when Jared checks on him later that night. Surprisingly, he’d come easily when Jared had kindly (not really) asked him to leave the suit for the day. Jensen sighs when he sees Jared, leaving Jared to hover by the door. He’s kind of been coming and going as he pleased. Maybe Jensen’s tired of seeing him.  
  
“Just wanted to see if you needed anything before I turn in.”  
  
“Uh, yeah, there is something,” Jensen says. “Can we talk?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
“I overhead you and Katie talking and I…I realised how unfair I’m being to you. You went through an ordeal too. You all did, my staff, Aldis, Katie…and up until today I haven’t even thought about how all of you are coping.”  
  
“Well, we’re all fine,” Jared says. “None of us went through what you went through.”  
  
“It doesn’t mean that you were affected any less, Jared,” Jensen says. “And I know that you want to play the strong hero to my damsel-in-distress but this isn’t a comic book, or a movie. It’s real. There are real emotions and other shit involved here.”  
  
“You always have such a way with words.”  
  
“I got IMPALA to play me an abridged video of what happened in my apartment while I was gone. You know, out of curiosity.”  
  
Jared feels his face reddening.  
  
“We can either discuss what I saw, or you can tell me how you’re holding up.”  
  
“I’m angry,” Jared says quickly because they are more certainly not discussing what Jensen  _thinks_  he saw. “With you, for being so stupid. With Jim, for being so  _evil_  and with myself for…allowing myself to care.”  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
“No, don’t be,” Jared sighs. “I shouldn’t have said that last part, I’m sorry. I’m not really pissed with you, just the situation that you put yourself in. I kept telling myself that I should have come with you. But then I’d realise that I’d probably be useless at saving you anyway. And it’s just…weird. They kept saying that you were dead and I just refused to believe it. But I was close to believing, no matter what I told myself. That feeling I had that you were alive was starting to wane and I—“  
  
Jensen’s up and walking towards Jared before Jared realises that he’s  _crying_. He has no time to at least stammer out an apology or use his sleeve to wipe his tears before Jensen’s pulling him into a tight embrace and squeezing him tightly. Jared hugs him back with as much force. They stay like that for a few seconds before they pull back, eyes meeting each other as they stand close. There’s a different kind of tension in the air and for a second it feels like time has stopped and it’s them, here in this moment. Jared’s message alert sounds and Jensen pulls back quickly, as if he’s been burned. Jared ignores the way his heart is pounding in his chest in favour of checking the message. It’s from Chad, some picture of Kyle with a toy frog dangling from his mouth. Despite claiming that he’d never be one of  _those_  parents who spams everyone with pictures of their kids, that’s exactly what Chad has turned into. It’s strangely not as annoying as it ought to be. Jared shows Jensen the picture, in an attempt to rid the room of the awkwardness that has descended on it. Emotions were high and they had a moment; that’s all that was. Jared does not have feelings for Jensen and Jensen doesn’t have any  _real_  feelings for him.  
  
“I should get going,” he says.  
  
“No wait, stay,” Jensen replies. “We can watch a movie, maybe? I have three months of DVD releases to catch up on.”  
  
“Sure,” Jared says. “Hey, IMPALA, select a movie for us please?”  
  
“IMPALA doesn’t have that func—“Jensen stops when his flat screen emerges from its case/closet/cupboard/cabinet, and the DVD icon comes up. He turns to glare at Jared. “How the hell did you crack my password?”  
  
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”  
  
Jensen rolls his eyes, but he’s grinning slightly. He climbs back in his bed and holds the covers open, beckons for Jared to join him. Jared does so without question because they’re friends. They’re friends with a previously fake-non-platonic relationship that’s now a real platonic relationship. Everything is great.  
  
Or it should be. A part of Jared can’t help feeling as though something is missing.  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
Jared and Jensen strike up another routine that consists of Jensen smashing metal bits around all day long, while Jared uses IMPALA to spy on Jim Beaver. Jared’s convinced that Beaver knows all about Jensen’s escape, but for whatever reason the man has not mentioned it since the night that Jensen got back. Surely Beaver would want to know all about this robot, so he could throw it in front of the highest bidder and make a gazillion dollars from it.  
  
“Probably because he’s too busy crying over our falling stock valuation,” Jensen says with a smirk when Jared points this out to him.  
  
“Doesn’t it bother you?” Jared questions. “I mean, he’s already tried to kill you once. What if he tries again?”  
  
“He’ll have to get through my suit of armour first.”  
  
“Yeah, you might have a problem there.”  
  
“What problem?”  
  
“I’ve listened to every single conversation that he’s had since I bugged his phone,” Jared says. “Not one mention of you escaping in a giant robot suit.” Jensen gives Jared an odd look, but he doesn’t mention anything about the phone tapping.  
  
“Probably because my captors were too stupid to realise what I built,” Jensen says with a shrug. Jared kind of wants to punch the nonchalance out of him, because Jared’s been  _freaking_  out over it. Why isn’t Jensen?  
  
“Or because he’s building one of his own, and if there’s even a chance that you left some sort of giant help sheet behind back in whereverthefuck….” Jared trails off at Jensen’s pensive expression.  
  
“Even more reason for me to finish up the new suit,” he says. Jared groans to himself.  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
Jared’s just come back from his run and he stops by to see if Jensen needs anything. He’s punched in the code for the door and is about to walk in when he hears voices.  
  
“So, what exactly do you want me to do?” That sounds like Katie, whose presence isn’t unusual, but Jared doesn’t make his presence known yet.  
  
“Just, keep an eye on him,” Jensen replies. “I want him to feel like he can come to you about anything. Make him trust you.”  
  
“Easy peasy,” Katie says. Jared chooses that moment to walk in; making sure that the door shuts loudly behind him. Katie and Jensen exchange a look but neither of them says anything.  
  
“What are you guys talking about?” Jared says casually as approaches them. Jensen looks uneasy for a few seconds before he shrugs and says,  
  
“I was just telling Katie to keep an eye out on J—“  
  
“Jared!” Katie interrupts. “Uh, you. He wants me to make sure that you don’t do anything stupid like, say try and take on Jim Beaver by yourself. Isn’t that right, Jensen?”  
  
“Yeah. Yes. That’s…what she said.” Jensen rubs a hand on the back of the neck and Katie grins at Jared widely. They’re both lying about something and Jared makes a note to find out what it is.  
  
Of course, he’s soon distracted by the racket that Jensen makes with his hammers and blowtorches and what not, and he forgets.  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
Jensen finishes ‘enhancing’ (well, that’s what Jensen claimed he was doing anyway) the suit just before Thanksgiving. Jared has no idea that Jensen's done until he wakes up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and spies Jensen - or rather the giant robotic suit - sitting at this kitchen table. The glass of water shatters onto the ground when Jared notices him, and he flies backwards, pain shooting across his foot as the shards embed themselves in the flesh. Only then do the lights blink on. Jared squints slightly. And then he stops because he’s not  _Chad_. And also because he can see the red and gold suit that Jensen is wearing quite clearly.  
  
"Hey, IMPALA, we might need to work on night visibility," Jensen says. Jared doesn't hear IMPALA's response, but he assumes it’s something along the lines of "Duly noted, sir."  
  
"Would you mind explaining why you and your midlife crisis are sitting in my place at a ridiculous hour?"  
  
"This suit is not a midlife crisis!" Jensen says belligerently; face tightening as he glares at Jared.  
  
Jared glares right back at him. "You're right; it’s much  _worse_."  
  
"I don't expect you to understand, Jared," Jensen says. "I built this thing so I can save people, you know, help right the wrong that's been done in  _my_  name."  
  
"So you've spent a fortune on some suit, wasted money that could have been used saving all of those people?" Jared snorts. "Oh, the guilty conscience of a rich man."  
  
"Yeah, well, I think that you should stop being so judgmental." It's probably the first time that Jensen's snapped at him, in a way that makes Jared think that he's actually angry.  
  
"I'm not judging," Jared says, in an attempt to diffuse the situation.  
  
"You are," Jensen says. "The same way you have been since you walked into my house and acted like an asshole. And the reason why I never called you out was that I saw a lot of myself in you. The cocky attitude and the judgmental behaviour. It's all a front, and I'm tired of it. You have issues, Jared, a lot of them. Rich people have issues too. Rich people also have a shit ton of money, and, guess what, so do you whether you like it or not, so don't you stand there and try and make me feel guilty about spending money on a cause that I believe in. I can help protect people, and I'm going to, with or without your approval."  
  
"I just don't want to see you get hurt," Jared says.  
  
"If I do, it'll be for a good cause."  
  
"You can't just make yourself a martyr because you feel like it," Jared takes another step back, wincing when his foot scrapes another piece of glass. “That’s not how it works!”  
  
"Just stop moving, okay," Jensen says, stepping forward and around the table. He grabs Jared in a one arm hold and hoists him onto the table.  
  
"I don't feel like that money is mine," Jared says. "Because I know that my parents don't love me. And before you say that they do, they don't, not the way a parent is supposed to have a child. They tried, that much I know, I just wish that they'd tried harder, that their lifestyle hadn't been more important than their own son."  
  
"Yeah well, they might not love you but I do." Jensen's lost the suit now and he's staring up at Jared. The easy way that Jensen admits it makes Jared want to accept it as truth. So he does. An equal measure of warmth and confusion floods inside him as he tries to come up with a response.  
  
"I don't think I know what love is," is what he says. It's probably not what to say to the first person who's ever said they love you, but there it is. It’s the truth. He doesn’t know. How can he when everyone always leaves?  
  
"When you figure it out, I'll be right here."  
  
"Only if you're not killed in that stupid thing," Jared says, but the smile on Jensen’s face is contagious, and he grins back.  
  
"Well then, my assistant is just going to have to make sure that I don't do anything reckless."

 

  
  
  
  
  
Chad sighs wearily when Jared tells him about the whole L-word thing.  
  
“What are you, five?” Chad scoffs. “Who even says ‘The L-word’ anymore?”  
  
 _Someone who hasn’t heard it a lot_ , Jared thinks but he doesn’t say anything. He just stares at Chad and silently wills his friend to tell him what to do.  
  
"Didn't I tell you not to come to me with this shit when it happened?" Chad doesn’t look happy.  
  
"You got me into this mess, so you're the one who gets to hear about it. Plus I don't have any other friends." Jared crosses his arms and mirrors the scowl on Chad’s face.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Okay, he loves you. And you don't know if you love him back. But you do know that you're at least hot for his form, right,” Chad says.  
  
"Oh, and who the hell says ‘Hot for his form’. I think all of the baby goo has done something to you."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, but you do know that, right? I listened to you bitch about him non-stop at the valet thing, and like, there was no way that you didn't have a hard on for him back then."  
  
“I thought he was attractive,” Jared says. “But the kind of attractive that doesn’t have anything going on upstairs. Besides, I got on alright. I had dates and boyfriends!” That last part is a lie but Chad doesn’t need to know that.  
  
"Well, I am glad to hear that you're not a monk. I was afraid that you hadn't gotten laid since the last time you let me be your wingman.”  
  
“The last and  _only_  time I let you be my wingman,” Jared says. And what a disastrous night that had been. He hadn’t even gotten laid in the end.  
  
“Don’t hate  _The Chad_ , man,” Chad says. Jared winces to himself and decides to change the subject quickly.  
  
"Look, you’ve seen us together and been a witness to everything. Do I love him?  
  
"Only you can answer that."  
  
“I thought you were my wingman,” Jared pouts. And then, “What is that smell…?”  
  
Chad looks down at where Kyle is making soft, tiny noises against his chest.  
  
“Jared, it’s time for your first diaper change.”  
  
Jared decides that he’s never asking Chad for advice again.  
  
  
  
  
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Jared doesn’t sleep when he gets back home. It’s probably too late for him to go over to Jensen’s part of the house, and after the whole L word (he’s not ready to say the full word, dammit) thing, Jared needs to think.  
  
By morning, he’s overthinking the whole thing and fit to burst.  
  
He can’t keep lying to himself.  
  
“I really like you,” Jared says, when he reaches Jensen’s place. He’s out of breath and still in his sleep clothes, and his hair probably looks stupid, and he’s probably putting Jensen off his breakfast, but this can’t wait any longer. Jensen puts down his spoon glumly, and sighs warily.  
  
“No, you don’t,” he says. “I was wrong to say that I’d wait for you to…know what love is. Just forget that I said that.”  
  
“Hold on a second, I think I know how I feel!” Jared replies. This is why people confuse him with their stupid topsy turvy emotions and shit.  
  
“You’re stressed out and you haven’t gotten laid in a while, you’re just projecting, and what I said yesterday didn’t help.” Jared should feel offended that Jensen is implying that he’s sexually frustrated, but really he’s just desperate to make Jensen see that he’s being sincere.  
  
“Or, maybe I like you.” Jensen’s face shifts a little. It’s subtle enough that no one would notice, but Jared does. The lines by his eyes fade a little, and that sad expression turns into a passive one.  
  
“Right, that’s why you turned me down all the time.” Jensen leans back in his chair and raises an eyebrow as if to say,  _what are you going to say to that_?  
  
“You were acting like I was a piece of meat. I hope that any self-respecting person would turn you down if you’re going after them like that.”  
  
“I thought I was being all flirty and smooth.” Jensen’s standing up from his seat now, and looking as if he’s about to pounce on Jared. Jared doesn’t really mind all that much. If his feet weren’t frozen to the ground with nerves he’d be there already, wrapped up in Jensen’s arms.  
  
And he’s honestly got to curtail this cheesiness thing before it gets out of hand.  
  
“Not really,” Jared says a little shakily. “I just thought that you were joking, that you were like that with everyone.”  
  
“Okay so, I like you but I did a shitty job at showing it and you like me back,” Jensen’s not reached him yet, but he’s close. Closer. It’s funny how a few meters suddenly feel like the expanse of the earth.  
  
“Yes.” Jensen’s suddenly right there, in front of Jared and he can’t really get more than one word out. They close out the remaining space, lips so close that they’re almost kissing and--  
  
“--Excuse me sirs, but I think this is the point where you—“  
  
“IMPALA do you mind shutting yourself off for an hour?”  
  
“As you wish, sir.”


	3. Chapter 3

 

Their first act as a couple (not that Jared’s even sure that they are one) is to argue. Jared’s just showed up and declared his  _like_  for Jensen. They’ve just had their first make-out session and Jensen wants to go and work on his suit? The same one that Jared doesn’t want him anywhere near?  
  
A tiny part of Jared tells him that this won’t end well.  
  
“Jim sent over a Thanksgiving invitation the other day,” Jared says, in a desperate attempt to keep Jensen in his bedroom for a few more minutes.  
  
“I hope you RSVP’d with a  _hell fucking no_ ,” Jensen spits out. It’s all Jared needs to see. Jensen’s angry with Jim, and that anger is making him reckless. Like, ‘flying around the city in a robot suit’ reckless.  
  
“I think we should go,” Jared says. “See if we can’t figure out what he’s up to.”  
  
“This obsession of yours will get both of us into trouble,” Jensen says, rolling over so that he’s facing Jared. “Kind of like the way you think the suit will.”  
  
“The suit didn’t try to kill you, Jensen”  
  
“And Jim didn’t try to kill  _you_!” Jensen looks guilty as soon as the words spill out of his mouth. A look of realisation appears on his face. “And that’s why you…” The look on Jared’s face makes Jensen trail off. He doesn’t want to have some heartfelt conversation about why he cares so much. One of those conversations is enough for one day.  
  
“How about we compromise,” Jared says. “You come with me to Jim’s for dinner and I let you mess around with that goddamn suit. Not that I could you stop you anyway.”  
  
“If I had to pick between being with you and being Robot Man or whatever, it’d be you,” Jensen says softly. “It’ll always be you.”  
  
“Right,” Jared says, ignoring the flare of  _likewantneedlove_ building up inside of him. “You’d only end up resenting me if I kept you away from that thing. I’m not stupid enough to make you choose.”  
  
 _Because no matter what you say, you probably wouldn’t choose me._  
  
“Fine, I’ll go to Jim’s then, not that we’re going to find anything,” Jensen says. “We can’t just ransack his house.”  
  
“Well, we could, we just need a good distraction…”  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
Jensen invites a bunch of his “friends” over a few days before dinner with Jim. The air quotes are Jensen’s which begs the question of why he even invited them, but according to him, if he’s going to casually walk to his own death, he might as well have some fun beforehand. Jared tries to ensure Jensen that it won’t come to that; Jim might be a conniving bastard, but he’s not going to try and take Jensen out when there are witnesses around.  
  
Jared’s also sure that Jensen forgets the fact that he hasn’t really hung out with his friends since he disappeared for three months. Needless to say, things are a little awkward. Chad’s made five turkey jokes. Danneel has talked about how much her outfit cost multiple times. Katie’s been eyeing the cook suspiciously. Chris and Steve, who Jared doesn’t really know, have been quiet. Aldis is working and can't come. Jared’s admittedly grumpy because Thanksgiving reminds him of his parents, and Jensen is…on his way to being three sheets to the wind.  
  
“So, Jared, you’re the one who crashed Jensen’s car, right?” Chris finally speaks. The cold glint in his eyes tells Jared that this won’t be an easy conversation. And that’s not even considering the fact that he and Jensen are sort of but not quite together. They haven’t discussed it further, too distracted by the thought of finally coming face to face with Jim.  
  
“Uh, yeah,” Jared says. “And, I’m paying for it now. I have to run around after him all day and hand him to—uh, papers.”  
  
“What papers?” Chris asks. “Last I heard he wasn’t even working at his company anymore.  _What_  exactly has he been doing since then?” Jared gets the distinct impression that Chris really wants to ask  _who_  Jensen’s been doing.  
  
“I am right here you know,” Jensen says as he sips at his glass of wine. Jared turns to give him a pointed look that he hopes says  _I’ve got this_.  
  
“And you’re almost wasted. You’re clearly not dealing well.”  
  
“Right, and you want to blame Jared,” Jensen spits out, liquid sloshing at the edge of his glass. “Where the fuck have you been since I came back?”  
  
A stunned silence fills the room as Chris stutters in response. Jared should probably move to diffuse the situation, but he's out of his element here. Chad eyes him from across the room but Jared ignores him. He gets the feeling that Jensen needs to let this out.  
  
"We called, texted, I even left a message with Jim," Chris finally protests. Jensen scoffs at that. But he doesn't respond, and the thick, awkward, palpable silence is back. Right up until Chad sighs loudly.  
  
"Seriously? I've been working and looking forward to this all day. I've had a terrible day in case anyone is wondering," he in a petulant tone.  
  
"We're not," Danneel says, voice bored as she taps away furiously on her iPhone. Jared's surprised that she's not permanently attached to that thing.  
  
"Oh, bite me," Chad shoots back, eyes narrowing in annoyance.  
  
"Don't tempt me," Katie mutters.  
  
"Maybe everyone should just leave. You can go over to my place, and I'll get the server to bring everything," Jared says. Chad is up and out of the door before Jared's done talking and the others follow after him with little argument. Chris glares at Jared a little, but he goes quietly. Leaving Jared with an empty room and a missing Jensen.  
  
Once he rearranges the dinner arrangements, Jared goes to find Jensen. He's in his room, flipping through television channels aimlessly. Jared watches him silently for a few seconds before coming to a decision.  
  
"I think that I'm going to go to Jim's by myself," he says. "To save you from another grand performance where you make a fool of yourself."  
  
"It was all part of my master plan, Jared," Jensen says with an almost gleeful grin.  
  
“Please enlighten me."  
  
"Jim’s been in contact with Chris and no doubt he suspects you, and whispered a few chance things into Chris’ ears,” Jensen says. “And I am sure that once Chris has the time, he’ll be filling Jim in on my little episode.”  
  
“You think that Jim will try and stage some sort of coup and have you declared unfit to run your company and therefore sell it?”  
  
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” Jensen replies. “And now I have the element of surprise on my side. Jim’s going to pay for what he did.” It’s a far cry from Jensen’s  _wanting to save the world_  spiel, not that Jared believed that anyway. But using the suit as revenge mission is equally as bad.  
  
“I thought that none of this was about revenge?” he asks. “So, what you’ve just been lying to me?”  
  
“You have no room to talk, Jared,” Jensen snaps. “You’ve been stalking the man! If anything, this’ll finally put  _your_  mind at rest.” Jared cocks an eyebrow upwards and gives Jensen a look. Jensen stares back at him for all of a second before he deflates.  
  
“I can’t get anything past you, can I?” he huffs. “Fine, I was probably bullshitting before about saving people, but it sounded good. And maybe one day, I’ll do all of that. There’s always going to be a world for me to save.”  
  
“Fine.”  
  
“Fine?”  
  
“Well yeah,” Jared says. “You’re not going to listen to me anyway.”  
  
“Jared, come on,” Jensen says. “You know that I would. But you’re only here because---“  
  
“—of myself,” Jared interrupts. “I want to get Jim back as much as you do. Let’s do this.”  
  
They can rehash the issue later - provided that Jim doesn’t do anything crazy, like say, kill them.  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Sure enough, there are stories circulating in papers and on blogs about Jensen’s meltdown within a day. The best part is how the articles are accompanied by a sound bite from Jim claims that it’s proof that Jensen is not thinking straight, that he’s unfit to decide what happens to Ackles Industries. Jim even goes on to say that he's having dinner and that they’ll discuss the matter then. Jared bites his lip nervously as Jensen rips all (yes,  _all_ of them) the newspapers into shreds and goes back to working out the last few kinks of the suit.  
  
He goes on a test run later that day, with Jared watching the New York City skyline through the screen that Jensen had reluctantly linked to the suit.  
  
“Hey, IMPALA, what kind of energy source is the suit running?”  
  
“The suit is currently battery operated, sir,” IMPALA say. “With a 12-hour life span and a back-up generator.”  
  
“If a large amount of energy was needed in one particular instance, that kind of battery power might not be enough,” Jared murmurs, mostly to himself. He opens up his computer and turns on the new projection software he has so that the screen appears in the space in front of him. Using the simulator he’d created for the suit, he runs the diagnostics for Jensen’s current flight time. The fact that it’s dark doubles the amount of energy he needs, meaning that he’ll go through his reserves twice as quickly. And that’s not even counting the beam blaster that serves as Jensen’s _main_ weapon.  
  
He’s so wrapped up in running tests and finding alternative energy sources that he doesn’t realise that Aldis is in the room until the man taps his shoulder. Jared turns, eyes widening when he sees who it is. Jensen had stated that Aldis mustn’t find out about this, under no circumstances. But Jared’s pretty sure that Aldis has already realised, so he leaves the projections in front of him.  
  
“When were you going to tell me that Jensen was  _serious_  about this suit?” Aldis demands angrily. “I saw him  _fly_  past my car. He flew past my car! I thought that he was in good hands!”  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jared says, deciding to play dumb. “What makes you think that Jensen would have a flying suit?”  
  
“Oh let me see, maybe the part where I organised his flight home after the whole kidnap ordeal,” Aldis says angrily. “I had to hire out a special plane to handle the weight of the metal from the first suit he made. I’m not an idiot, Jared. How could you let him build an actual fully functioning suit?!”  
  
“I’m not his babysitter,” Jared says petulantly, even though he still isn’t sure about the suit himself. Even so, he can’t be held responsible for every single action that Jensen makes. “I’m his assistant.”  
  
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Aldis sighs. “I suppose if you of all people couldn’t get through to him, then there’s nothing I’d have been able to do.”  
  
Jared decides that he’s not even going to ask what Aldis means. There has to be a limit to this seemingly never ending confusion surrounding him and Jensen. Before he can say anything else, there’s a loud thud and the screen goes black.  
  
Aldis shifts beside him anxiously, “What the hell was that? Is he okay?” Jared doesn’t know. All he can do is point Aldis towards the nearest geolocation of the suit and he watches on as Aldis races out. He really doesn’t want to be here during the argument that’s surely going to take place when they get back. Provided that Jensen is okay, of course.  
  
And god, he better be okay, or Jared will be forced to kill Jensen himself. He shuts down his computer, and leaves a note for Jensen with IMPALA.  
  
He gets a text later that says  _Aldis is still pissed but he’s on board with our plan. He thinks that the best way to distract Jim would be to leak some of that info about the illegal arms._  
  
Jared frowns. He’d almost forgotten about that.  _Sounds like a good idea._  
  
Jensen sends a reply within seconds.  _Are you coming back over tonight?_  
  
 _No_ , Jared texts back.  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Two days before the Thanksgiving dinner with Jim, Jared finds himself working a shift at the valet company. He’s surprised at how much he’s missed parking cars. It’s definitely a lot less stressful than pretending to be Jensen Ackles’ boyfriend/actually being his assistant. Chad was surprised when Jared had asked for a shift, but Jared kind of needs the money. If he and Jensen are going to  _try_  after they take care of Jim, then he refuses to be a kept man. Plus his cell plan is almost up and he kind of needs to be able to renew it. Without dipping into the guilt money that his parents have left him.  
  
“If I was you, I would just live off of Ackles forever,” he says. Technically, Chad doesn’t even doing any valeting anymore, but he’s carrying out a surprise inspection on Brock, the guy that Jared’s working with. It’s kind of hilarious. “He has more than enough dough.”  
  
“And so do I.” Jared doesn’t intend to say that out loud, but he has a feeling that Chad suspects that he does.  
  
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Chad admits. “I got sulky rich-kid vibes from you from day one. And not the Richie Rich kind of rich either.”  
  
Jared frowns.  
  
Chad continues, “Not that I understand why you’d deliberately live beneath your means if you had enough money to live it up.”  
  
“It’s not  _my_  money, it’s my parents,” Jared says. “We don’t really talk much. I cut off all ties a few years back.”  
  
“Wait, if you  _have_  money, then why’d you get Ackles to buy this valet company for me?” Chad asks.  
  
“Partly just to see if I could,” Jared says. “And mostly because I’d rather pay him back than my parents. At least he’d care enough to  _want_  his money back.”  
  
“Fair enough,” Chad says. “So what’s going on with you and him? Have you done the dirty yet?”  
  
“Chad!” Jared glares at his best friend. “I know that taking it slow is a foreign concept to you, but yeah, we’re doing that. I think. I don’t really know.”  
  
Chad pats him on the shoulder. “You’ll figure it out, buddy.”  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
The drive to Jim’s house is uncomfortable to say the least. Jensen’s driver is taking them at Aldis’ insistence. Probably so he can keep tabs on them. Jensen’s quiet and Jared’s out of small talk topics. Instead he resigns himself to sneaking quick furtive glances at Jensen, who’s wearing a crisp, blue button down and pressed blue slacks. He fills out the shirt nicely and Jared’s sure that if he had a good view of Jensen’s ass, it’d look pretty damn good in those pants. Bizarrely, he finds himself wish that he’d made an effort to look nice so that it’d give Jensen a distraction as well. Instead he’s opted for a simple, black long sleeved shirt and jeans. His hair probably looks like a tornado’s hit it, but fuck if he’s going to make any effort for Jim Beaver.  
  
“You’re going to leave aren’t you?” Jensen asks suddenly. “When this is done, you’re gone.” Jared tenses beside Jensen. He  _had_  been planning on moving out at some point, but not in the way that Jensen makes it sound. As if it’ll be  _final_ , like he’ll be gone from Jensen’s life forever.  
  
“I do need my own place,” he says slowly. “I can still pay off my debt, if that’s what you’re worried about.”  
  
“If that’s what….seriously?” Jensen makes an abortive gesture with his hands. “You are the most infuriating person I have  _ever_  met! You say that you like me, the day after I confess that I’m in love with you, and things are good and then…you just give up on getting me to leave the suit alone. You start agreeing with everything, and you never want to spend time with me that’s not about the suit or  _Jim_  or whatever the hell.”  
  
“Uh,” Jared says ineloquently. “I thought that the suit was what you wanted. I’m trying to be supportive. That’s what…partn—…what I’m supposed to do, right?”  
  
“That’s what an employee would do, Jared,” Jensen says tiredly. “And you stopped being that for me a long time ago. Your honesty is what I liked - like- about you, not you giving up and not wanting to speak your true feelings!”  
  
“I don’t want to drive anyone else away,” Jared admits quietly. “I’m not good at this. Relationships. Or friendships even. Chad’s the only person who’s ever really stuck around.”  
  
“As disturbing as that is,” Jensen starts to say, “You’ve got to stop thinking that everyone is like your parents. They didn’t want to be around, and it sucks but it’s done. Don’t let their blindness ruin your life. Don’t close yourself off, Jared, because you’ll only end up exactly where you don’t want to be. Alone.”  
  
“Like you’d ever leave me before you get a chance to sleep with me,” Jared says, words barely escaping from his throat. The joke falls flat. Jensen’s right, Jared knows that. But it’s not going to take one conversation and one day for Jared to really believe that people want to be around him. Luckily for him, Jensen seems like he’s willing to wait. Jensen reaches over, takes his hand a squeezes it gently. Jared grips Jensen’s hand tightly and doesn’t let go.  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
Dinner is awkward. Jensen gives cold and stilted responses to Jim’s questions and Jim spends most of his time persuading Jensen to see sense and rethink about selling the company. Jared pokes at his turkey and taps his foot repeatedly in anticipation. He stops when Jensen puts a hand on his knee under the table. Jensen gives him a fond look and Jared smiles back, before looking up to see Jim staring at him with open contempt.  
  
“Where’s your wife, Jim?” Jared asks just to be spiteful.  
  
“Ex-wife. She’s probably on some beach somewhere, spending my hard-earned money,” he grumbles. “Jensen here is the only real family I have.” Jared watches Jensen’s jaw tighten, and he quickly tries to change the subject.  
  
“So, what do you plan to do once the company's sold?” Jim turns to glare at him. Jared smiles back, his parents may have been in his peripheral vision most of his life but they’d at least ensured that he’d been brought up with good manners.  
  
“I’m hoping that it won’t come to that,” Jim says. “It’s obvious to me that Jensen has been influenced by the wrong people. We’ll sit down to discuss it later, but let’s not ruin dinner.”  
  
“Yeah, let’s not,” Jensen mumbles. Just then, a phone goes off, and Jim excuses himself to answer it. Jared hears his muffled voice from the hall, and then a louder  _‘fix this! I don’t care how, just fix it. Now.’_  Jim returns back to the room and excuses himself.  
  
“I need to pop out for a few minutes, boys, but please finish your dinner and be sure to call on Marie if you need anything.”  
  
And then he’s gone, leaving Jared sitting at the table with his heart beating wildly in his chest. Something is off about all of this, he can feel it. But they can’t pass up a golden opportunity to try and find some evidence of Jim’s wrong-doing. Jensen’s phone bleeps and he barely spares it glance before handing it over to Jared.  
  
 _Information has been leaked in the past few minutes about some less than kosher deals done by Ackles Industries, one of America’s largest oil manufacturers. For years, the business world has wondered how Ackles Industries has been breaking bank and beating its competitors and thanks to today’s revelations, we may now know why. Documents prove that Ackles Industries have been selling arms to other countries illegally. There are pictures, bil---_  
  
Jared stops reading, and stands up. He nods at Jensen. Jensen calls for Marie, and within seconds she appears, with a motherly smile on her face. She looks a bit familiar but Jared doesn’t have time to try and place her face right now. Jensen starts talking about some weird sounding dessert that he apparently used to have as a kid, and Jared excuses himself to go to the bathroom. While he’s there, he takes out the screwdriver he’d stashed in his pocket and approaches the mirror. He checks behind it, but there’s nothing there. Once he’s got all the screws back in, he flushes, washes his hands and creeps out quietly. The landing is carpeted, so his footfalls are quiet and he guides himself to a room that looks like it doubles as an office and den. There’s a desk, a wall to floor bookshelf on one side and a futon and large, plasma screen on the other. It strikes Jared as odd, so he walks over to the bookshelf and peers at it. He thinks about those stupid crime movies that he watches sometimes, where the bad guy has a secret room hidden within another room. All he needs to do is find the switch.  
  
And really, Jim Beaver could probably do with some better security. The anomalous item on his bookshelf is easy to spot. It’s covered in clean, newish looking hardback books, classics, John Grisham novels, Shakespeare and a whole bunch of books that Jared can’t be bothered to look at. What really stands out is the shiny new  _paperback_ copy of  _Fifty Shades of Grey_  right in the middle of the middle shelf.  
  
For his sake, Jared pretends that it’s just a joke on Jim’s part. He shudders slightly as he moves forward and tugs the book. Nothing happens. Jared tugs it again and is almost thrown forwards as the bookshelf whirls to life and spins around quickly, leaving Jared staring up at some sort of…  
  
…giant – and he means  _giant_ – robot suit.  
  
He grabs his cell phone and starts taking pictures. There are some papers lying on a nearby table and Jared grabs them and peers at them quickly. Order sheets for metal compounds. And buried underneath that is a blurry picture of Jensen’s original suit.  
  
 _Gotcha_ , Jared thinks.  _Gotcha_.  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
He manages to slip back to the table before Jim returns. Marie is topping up their wine glasses and Jensen’s looking more irritated than he was before. Jared sips at his wine as Jim takes his seat. Jensen gives Jared an alarmed look and Jared feels himself tensing up. What’s going on?  
  
“I trust that you heard about what just leaked to the press,” Jim says tersely. Jensen shrugs. Jim’s hand’s ball into fists and Jared swallows hard. They should probably go. Soon. Right after Jared…clears his head, because he’s starting to feel a little light-headed. And hot. Did they turn up the thermostat?  
  
“Jared, are you okay?” That’s Jensen. But he sounds like he’s a million miles away. And there is two of him. Two Jensen’s! Twice the trouble, double the fun. Wait. Jared stares down at his wine glass and looks over to where two Marie’s have come to stand beside Jim.  _Oh shit_ , he thinks.  _This is it. I’m going to die._  
  
“Jared?” Jensen’s hands are on his face now, but Jared can’t stop his head from lolling sideways. “Jared, it’s me!”  
  
“Jensennn,” he slurs. “I luff you too.” And that’s the last thing he’s aware of before everything goes black.  
  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
When Jared wakes up, he’s back in that room; the one behind the bookshelf. Despite the fact that his muscles are heavy and lethargic he tries to move, belatedly realising that he’s affixed to the wall. His arms and legs and outstretched and pinned down. Jim Beaver is there, as is Marie, although she looks a little different. Younger and familiar looking…and is that blonde hair? Jared sighs. Jim Beaver’s known all along that Jared’s been keeping tabs on him. He knows everything.  
  
“Katie.” It doesn’t make sense, but at the same time it does. She’s been here every step of the way, mostly in the background, but recently in the forefront. This is exactly what a bodyguard isn’t supposed to do. Jared can’t quite believe that Katie would be stupid enough to believe Jim, but then he thinks about how Jensen's been taken in by Jim for so long. He supposes that it could happen to anyone.  
  
  
  
“Why?” he asks, because while she and Jensen weren’t close, Jared had actually considered her a friend. She’d watched him  _cry_  over Jensen for God’s sake. He’d sworn her to secrecy. In hindsight, he felt pretty stupid about it.  
  
“I always did want to be an actress,” she says brightly. “And I’ve always wanted to screw Jensen Ackles over, the same way his company screwed my dad’s over. He has nothing. Nothing. And now he’s like some shell, who looks and sounds like my dad, but it’s not him anymore.”  
  
“And working with Jim to take down Jensen is how you wanted to exact your revenge?” Jared says, struggling with his restraints discreetly. “The same man who was probably instrumental in Ackles Industries taking over your father’s company. There’s this thing that people do. It’s called  _research_.”  
  
“Uh, who’s name’s on the side of the building,” Katie says angrily. “Revenge and reason don’t always mesh well together.”  
  
“I’ll say,” Jared replies. “I’m the one stuck up here like some fucking moose head.”  
  
“Children, please,” Jim says, just in case they’ve forgotten that he’s in this room with them. “Ms. Cassidy I trust that you don’t believe what this buffoon is telling you? Jensen’s the outgoing CEO. No deals go through without his say so.”  
  
“But…Jared’s right,” Katie admits reluctantly. “ _You’re_  his right hand man. You knew exactly what was going on. Ergo, you’re just as much to blame as he is.”  
  
“Ergo?” Jared echoes, because really?  
  
“You’re kind of chatty for a guy who has a huge laser beam pointing right at his dick.” Jared’s eyes widen and he looks down. Sure enough there’s a weird looking contraption pointing right at him. He gulps and does his best to swivel his head around so that he’s facing Beaver. Jared really hopes to God that he doesn’t need to pee while stuck on this damn thing.  
  
“What exactly do you want, Jim?” he asks. Fuck Katie. She can exact her revenge some other day. “It can’t be the company, because Jensen’s left. You could easily buy his stake.” Jim snorts, but Jared’s spent enough time watching the man via security cameras to know his tell. The way his hand runs through his beard quickly before his fingers flex.  
  
“He can’t just up and leave the company,” Jim spits out. “Not after everything I’ve done for him. After all the years I spent looking after him.”  
  
“After all the years you spent blowing a fortune and bankrupting yourself,” Katie fills in the blanks quietly. Jared’s on the same page. If anything it makes sense, by passing the illegal weapons money off as oil money, Jim was able to cash in his checks without anything sniffing his way. Jared’s wrenched out of this thoughts when Jim suddenly reaches out and grabs a fistful of Katie’s hair, dragging her backwards towards the suit. Katie shrieks and struggles valiantly but soon she’s tied to some kind of rotating wheel; the kind that Jared assumes he’s also pinned to.  
  
“Jensen’s assistants have always been helpful in helping me get what I need,” Jim says pointedly, as he presses a button. A cabinet slides open to reveal a giant computer. “Up until he hired you, Jared. A quick background check on you and I was breathing easy again. You had money; maybe I could swindle some from you. Of course all it took was a dinner with your parents for me to realise that you don’t have a real cent to your name. And, you're sharp. Clever. Your parents really hammered that across. Their smart little boy—“  
  
“Wait, what?” Jared interrupts. “They said that?” Jim turns to give him a murderous glare and suddenly a violent, sharp shock spreads its way through Jared’s body and he screams out in agony.  
  
“Don’t interrupt me, boy,” Jim growls. “You were suspicious of me from the get go. Why?” Jared’s tongue feels heavy in his mouth, near memory of the electric shock numbs him, keeping him from responding.  
  
“I suppose it doesn’t matter,” Jim continues on. “I knew that Jensen knew about the weapons, so I had to form another plan. And that meant getting rid of him. But those morons I hired were too stupid to see that he was building a goddamn robot suit to plan his escape.”  
  
“If you’re going to kill us can you just do it already, jeez,” Katie says. “I’m fucking sick of the sound of your voice.”  
  
It’s Katie’s turn to get the nasty, electric shock treatment. If Jared could actually move his face at the moment, he’d be wincing in sympathy.  
  
“Luckily, Jensen left the plans behind. He left my golden ticket in my hands.” Jim presses another button and some sort of sliding scale rolls out. In the centre there’s a huge – and Jared means _huge –_  shiny, silver suit. It’s not dissimilar to  _Jensen’s_  it’s just  _really fucking ugly_. And big. “The ultimate weapon.”  
  
“Jensen’s not going to let you get away with this!” Jared thinks that he probably drools more than speaks, but hey, at least he’s not going down with a fight. He wonders where Jensen is, how he got out.  _If_ he got out.  
  
“There’s nothing he can do to stop me,” Jim says. “And I’m sad to say that your little boyfriend was taken care of by Ms. Cassidy here. Right between the eyes, so I’m told. I kind of wish I’d been there to see it myself.” Before Jared can even begin to decide what emotion he’s going through, there’s a loud explosion and the room rocks violently, shaking from side to side as the door is blown clean of its hinges. The thud of heavy footsteps sounds in the room. Jared looks up and sees a glint. There's a flash of red and gold. Jared looks all the way up, and finds himself gaping up at the sight of Jensen’s extremely refined suit. It looks a lot different from the last time he saw it. It’s taller, wider, bigger and shinier and kind of  _hot_. And fuck, Jensen’s not dead. He’s  _alive_. Jared lets out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding.  
  
“That’s a shame,” Jensen says. “Because then I wouldn’t have been able to do this.” He holds up his right hand, and a huge burst of white light comes spraying out and straight in Jim’s direction. Jim cries out and presses a button quickly, before making a run for his own suit. Jared feels the wheel he’s affixed to start to move, and his stomach lurches violently.  
  
“Jensen,” he calls out, panic rising up in his chest as the wheel picks up speed.  
  
“Once each wheel reaches a certain speed, they’re both going to fly off and run straight into the shears I’ve embedded in the ground.” That’s Jim, but his voice sounds more…computerised. He must have slipped into his suit already. Damn.  
  
“Let them go,” Jensen yells. “Now!” Jim laughs. Jared closes his eyes, unable to calm himself down as the wheel picks up speed. He starts to say a prayer and he thinks of Jensen, of Chad and his son, of his parents. Jared thinks about how he can’t remember what his life was like without Jensen in it. He thinks about what he’ll do if Jensen doesn’t win this fight.  
  
Fuck that, he thinks. Jensen’s going to win this. Jim Beaver doesn’t stand a fucking chance.  
  
“We could have avoided this,” Jim’s still talking and Jared wishes that Jensen would just aim that ray blaster thing at Jim’s mouth. “If you hadn’t gone meddling into things that don’t involve you.” There’s another loud  _boom,_  and something crashes to the floor. Jared opens his eyes just in time to see a dark, heavy-looking object hurtling in his direction. He ducks his head instinctively and jolts slightly when it hits the wheel. The motion stops immediately and the restraints click open and Jared’s dropped to the floor. He braces himself for the shears but nothing happens.  
  
“Jared, Katie, get out of here.” Jensen’s still throwing blast shots at Jim who’s retaliating with what looks like double the power that Jensen’s suit is capable of. There’s no way that Jared can leave him alone.  
  
“Jared, come on,” Katie says tugging on his arm hard. She looks pale and frazzled and it all finally clicks into place.  
  
“He sent you in, didn’t he? Jensen. He’s known about the suit that Jim was making all along. He’s been keeping tabs on Jim too, just through you!”  
  
“You didn’t really think that he’d just let the man who tried to kill him roam about freely?” Katie says tiredly. “He didn’t want the whole Jim situation to screw you up any more than it had.”  
  
“The video feeds…you altered them didn’t you? And you managed to get him out of there after you drugged me!”  
  
“IMPALA. was programmed to remove anything that mentioned the suit. Only I myself was aware of the fact that Jim was building one. I didn’t tell Jensen until Jim first got some signs of function from it. And if you must know, that wine must have drugged before I even corked it. You were the only one to drink it.”  
  
Before he can respond, there’s another loud crash and Jared looks over to see Jim pick up Jensen – robot suit and all – and fling him down, almost like Jensen weighs as much as sheet of paper. Before Jared knows what he’s doing, he rushes forward and flings himself between them.  
  
“Jared!” Both Katie and Jensen yell his name at the same time. Jim’s more concerned with how far he’s going to throw Jared, because he uses a metallic finger to hoist him, the cool surface digging into his neck as he dangles there and waits for Jim to just do something.  
  
“Wait,” Jensen says. “Just wait a damn minute. I won’t sell the company. And I’ll tell everyone that the claims are false. You’ll get all of your blood money; I’ll make sure of it. Just…don’t hurt him.”  
  
“I never had Jared down as a damsel in distress,” Katie says from her position over by what used to be door. Now it’s just a wall with a giant hole in it. “But he does have the hair for it.” Jensen turns to shoot Katie an annoyed look and she shrugs. Jim chooses that moment to let go of Jared, and he drops to the floor. He looks up just in time to see Jensen triple blast him with beam blaster on the palm of the suit. Jim’s suit sparks for a few seconds before making a loud ripping noise. It powers down quickly, as do the computers in the room. The only light left in the room is coming from what used to be the doorway. Jim drops down in a heap, ground shaking slightly as he falls. Jared breathes a sigh of relief when Jim remains still.  
  
Jensen lowers his hand and presses a button near the neck of his suit and the arms and legs start to fall away, leaving him to step out of it easily. The first thing he does is rush over to Jared.  
  
And then he punches him.  
  
It’s not a hard punch, not really, but Jared is taken aback all the same.  
  
“Next time I say  _get out_ , you get the fuck out,” Jensen says angrily and then he’s right up against Jared before he can get a word out, their lips colliding as Jensen tries to pull him closer. Despite the fact that it’s ridiculously cheesy of them to be doing this here and now, he kisses Jensen back just as hard.  
  
“I hate to break this up but…is it me or are there sirens heading this way?” Katie says. “I’m not sticking around for the po-po; I have a record.”  
  
“Please never say  _po-po_  again,” Jensen says after he’s pulled back from Jared. He pokes Jared in the chest, “and  _you_. Please never confront anyone in a robot suit who’s tried to kill me again!”  
  
“Oh, like you wouldn’t have done the same,” Jared says.  
  
“I might be pretty but I’m not  _dumb_.” The smile on Jensen’s face gives him away.  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
The official story is that Jim Beaver was hospitalised after an explosion took place at his house. The police never find any evidence of a suit. They claim that the explosion was a result of some suspicious activity that occurred within his bank accounts.  
  
“Why get rid of the suit?” Jared asks as he stares at it. It’s propped up on a stand right across from Jensen’s suit, in all of its ugly (really, really ugly) glory.  
  
“We don’t need another power hungry maniac getting their hands on it,” Jensen says. He hasn’t decided what to do with it yet. Jared’s suggestion of destroying it because it’s ugly apparently doesn’t hold much weight. It’s work in progress.  
  
As for Jensen’s suit, well…  
  
“Can you believe that they’re calling me Robot Dude?”  
  
“Well, your suit does look a little robotic,” Jared says.  
  
“It’s a suit of protective armour, Jared,” Jensen says. “It’s not a robot. It’s not a  _toy_.”  
  
“If you say so,” Jared smirks, “What would you rather they call you?”  
  
“Shining Armour.” Jensen’s got a completely seriously look on his face and Jared blinks.  
  
“You can’t be serious.”  
  
“I can and I am.”  
  
“You’re  _my_  knight in shining armour, not anybody else’s,” Jared says. “Can’t you be Red and Gold man or something?”  
  
“Nah, I’m thinking about changing the colours,” Jensen replies. “And you owe the sappy jar a grand total of 10 cents.”  
  
“I thought we agreed that we’d bought dollars in the jar, because we never have change.”  
  
“Hey, man, you created the sappy jar,” Jensen says. “It’s not my fault that you’re a bigger sap than I am. Pay up.”  
  
“I am  _not_  a sap,” Jared argues, because he isn’t.  
  
Jensen’s just obviously got some sort of spell over him.  
  


 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
About a month after Jensen saves the planet from another one of Jim Beaver’s pet projects (underground nuclear weapons, but that’s a story for another time), a man called Nick Fury shows up. He is an interesting character. He's tall and dressed in all black, including the black eye patch over his left eye. He's drinking a vanilla latte (of all things) when Jensen gets back from his meeting.  
  
"Uh, this is Nick...Fury," Jared says slowly when Jensen gives him a questioning look. "He's here about--"  
  
"The suit," Fury interjects. "We know about your escape. And we know that you defeated Beaver. In fact, your little intervention helped us with our operation."  
  
"What suit?" Jensen says nonchalantly. Jared coughs and points at the miniature figure of the suit that is currently placed on Jensen's mantelpiece. In hindsight, putting it there probably wasn't a good idea.  
  
"I'm not selling it," Jensen says harshly. "And if you try and take it, it'll be the last thing you do."  
  
So maybe Jensen's a little overprotective of his suit.  
  
“I’m not here to steal your toy,” Fury says with a chuckle. “I have a business proposition for you.”  
  
“Go on…”  
  
“Have you ever heard of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

  
  
Thank you for reading!


End file.
